BLITZED.. AT MACH 10
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RUSSIA yesterday admitted unleashing a 7,674mph hypersonic missile as Vladimir Putin ramped up his blitz on Ukraine.
The “unstoppable” Kinzhal – or Dagger – obliterated a Soviet-era underground weapons store.
Moscow claims the missile travels up to 1,250 miles at Mach 10 – 10 times the speed of sound – and can dodge air-defence systems. It is the first time Russia has confessed to using the aero-ballistic weapon.
Security expert Dominika Kunertova fears Russia is retaliating at moves by Britain and its allies to arm Ukraine. The West has provided £1.25billion-worth of military aid.
Ms Kunertova said: “It’s a signal to the West, because Putin is annoyed that the West is daring to shift all
The Kinzhal hypersonic missile Speed:
Mach 10 7,674 mph Range:
1,250 miles
these weapons.” Meanwhile, as the sickening war enters a fourth week:
■ Dozens of Ukrainians were feared dead in a blitz on a military barracks near Mykolaiv. Some 200 men were asleep when three missiles hit.
■ Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Putin to engage in direct peace talks – accusing him of war crimes for blocking aid.
■ A 38-hour curfew was enforced in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia after a rocket strike killed nine.
■ Fierce fighting continued to rage in the besieged city of Mariupol.
The Kremlin said the hypersonic missile – which can be carried by MiG-31 fighter jets or launched from warships – hit a munitions depot in Delyatun, in the Carpathian mountain foothills 380 miles west of Kyiv.
Aerial footage from the Russian military shows a huge explosion.
People are seen fleeing as smoke billows. The blast came hours before weeping soldiers honoured two comrades among 35 killed in a strike on a training base in Yavoriv, near the Polish border, a week ago.
Security in Yavoriv remained tight amid fears saboteurs and spies are pinpointing bomb targets.
From Ivano-Frankivsk, 30 miles north, soldiers were digging in defences, preparing machine-gun positions and sand-bagging areas around statues and public offices.
Checkpoints were positioned every 10 miles. A couple from Kramatorsk, Donetsk, fled here a week ago. They said: “It’s like the war has followed us here.”
Ukraine, meanwhile, claims 14,400 Russian soldiers have been killed. British defence chiefs believe Russia may have burned thousands of bodies in mobile crematoriums, buried many on the border – or removed them to a hospital in
Homel, Belarus. Staff there say 2,500 bodies have already been shipped.
But Moscow’s Defence Ministry insists it has lost fewer than 500 soldiers.
Fierce fighting still raged in the port city of Mariupol. Street combat was said to be hampering efforts to rescue 1,300 feared trapped in the basement of a bombed theatre.
Mayor Vadym Boychenko said: “Our forces are doing everything they can but the forces of the enemy are larger than ours, unfortunately.”
A mortar attack in the town of Makariv, near Kyiv, killed seven.
In the capital itself, doctors were battling around the clock to treat 200 maimed soldiers and civilians, including one stabbed in the heart.
Military surgeon Igor Homenko said: “What we’re seeing is hard to cope with, in terms of our skills but also emotionally.” The injured incuded soldier Yurij, 68, who was badly hurt when his home was bombed, vowed to return to the frontline, telling the Sunday Mirror: “Everybody is ready to fight and protect our people. We feel victory is within our grasp.”
Ukraine’s troops are even turning Russian weapons – seized in battles in the east – on their enemy. Four senior commanders have been shot by snipers using a Russian rifle called a Dragunov.
Ukraine deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk said 190,000 civilians have been evacuated via humanitarian corridors. And she said 562 Russians were being held as prisoners of war.
President Zelensky again called for negotiations, saying: “It’s time to meet, it’s time to talk, it’s time to
restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such that you will need several generations to recover.”
Even when peace does come, the threat of unexploded bombs will pose a threat for “decades” to come, experts warn.
Some 2,000 have been killed or maimed by devices buried in the disputed Donbas region since 2014. Now other areas have been laced with mines too.
James Cowan – CEO of HALO Trust, which has 430 people in the country clearing mines – said: “We want to clear the streets and cities of Ukraine of the devastating deluge they are littered with.”
Everybody is ready to fight and protect our people
YURIJ A BRAVE INJURED SOLDIER AGED 68