Understand Why Russia Used Hypersonic Missiles to Strike Ukraine

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Russia just did a very big attack on Ukraine by shooting off more than 80 missiles. This has been going on since October and Russia is trying to make Ukrainians feel bad so the Ukrainian government will do what they want.

The attack by Russia on Thursday was bigger than any of its previous ones, with more advanced missiles called hypersonic missiles being used. But, just like other times, this did not end up doing much damage to the energy networks of Ukraine, and the power has already been restored to most places.

Recent news has come out about the Russian military using missiles as part of an attack. Let’s take a look at what kind of weapons they used.

Russia Fires 81 Missiles and 8 Shahed Drones at Ukraine in Retaliation

Ukraine’s top General Valerii Zaluzhnyi reported that Russia fired 81 missiles and 8 Shahed drones from Iran at Ukraine early Thursday. He said Ukraine managed to shoot down 34 missiles and 4 drones during the attack.

Thursday, Russia launched a number of missiles – six of which were the super-fast “Kinzhal” missiles. These are probably the most powerful weapons owned by the Russians. Unfortunately, Ukraine does not have anything that can stop these Kinzhal and Kh-22 (an older model) missiles from attacking it.

Russia said they launched a bunch of missiles as revenge for Ukrainian soldiers attacking villages in their country last week. People who used to live in Russia and are now fighting with Ukraine forces took credit for the attack, while Ukraine denied being involved. Russia did not say exactly how many missiles were fired, but they said all the targets were hit.

Experts on military matters saw that the amount of Kinzhal missiles used on Thursday was much higher than what usually happens – usually only two of these specific weapons were used.

The Kinzhal is one of Russia’s newest and most powerful weapons. The Russian military says this air-launched missile can travel up to 1,250 miles very quickly–so fast that it would be hard for anyone to shoot it down. Plus, its heavy warhead will let it blow up really tough targets, like hidden underground bunkers or concrete tunnels in mountains.

Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been using a type of weapon called Kinzhal to attack certain important targets. However, they have not used it frequently because only a few Kinzhals are available.

Ukraine has kept a lid on the details of what Russia’s strikes hit and how much damage they did, so that Russia can’t learn anything to plan more attacks. It is still unknown exactly which missiles Moscow used, however Western officials and military experts suppose Russia doesn’t have enough up-to-date weapons left as production is not keeping up with the amount already spent.

The British Defense Ministry said that there have been more breaks in the time between when Russia launches missiles. This probably means that Russia needs to get a lot of newly made missiles from factories before they can attack Ukraine so hard that Ukranian defenses cannot stop them.

The Kinzhal is an invasion weapon from Russia that is flown by MiG-31 fighter jets. Some of these planes have landed in Belarus, which is a country that works with Russia to provide troops and weapons for the invasion.

Ukraine Fights Off Powerful Russian Weapons with Determination and Resolve

The Ukrainian military said on Thursday they launched six powerful Kh-22 missiles that come from a Tu-22M heavy bomber. These missiles fly faster than sound, three times as fast!

This large weapon, which was created over 40 years ago for the Soviet Union, has a range of 600 kilometers (370 miles) and is powerful. It travels very quickly and carries 630 kilograms (nearly 1,400 pounds) of explosives! Unfortunately, its guidance system isn’t very good which means it can be really inaccurate when used against land targets – this would cause problems because it could lead to damage that wasn’t intended.

Russia launched some very powerful weapons against Ukraine, such as the ‘Kh-101 cruise missiles’ that are carried by bomber planes and the ‘Kalibr cruise missiles’ which are shot from boats. These missiles can fly really far away with great accuracy, they are slow and quiet, but somehow the Ukrainian army managed to fight them off.

Russia has been using S-300 air defense missiles in the recent fights. These missiles are not as strong as the bigger bombs used to destroy targets on the ground, however, Russia seems to have a lot of them. Ukraine can’t do anything to stop them.

Russia has sent fighter jets with missiles and exploding drones to attack Ukraine. Ukrainian military have gotten better at defeating the attacks, but Russia tries to overwhelm them by sending lots of different weapons in one strike.

“Russia has been trying to find ways to trick the Ukraine’s air defenses and they have been partly successful,” said Zhdanov. “It is much harder for them to handle an attack when a mixture of different missiles and drones are launched at them all at once.”