Putin launches ‘invincible’ missiles as he changes tactics
Ultra-fast, low-flying weapons will increase casualties and obliterate infrastructure, exacerbating Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis, say Minstry of Defence experts
RUSSIA has used its “invincible” hypersonic weapons for the first time in Ukraine as UK intelligence chiefs warned that the development will kill many more civilians.
Russia deployed the Kinzhal (“Dagger”) missiles on Friday to destroy a weapons silo in the west of the country, the defence ministry claimed.
“The Kinzhal aviation missile system, with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles, destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region,” it said yesterday.
The reported attack, which has not been verified, took place in a region that shares a 30-mile border with Romania, a Nato member.
Vladimir Putin said the weapons were “invincible” when he unveiled them in 2018. They are thought to have been first used in Syria in 2016.
British intelligence chiefs said Russia had been forced to change its tactics and was pursuing a strategy of attrition.
“This is likely to involve the indiscriminate use of firepower, resulting in increased civilian casualties, destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure and intensify the humanitarian crisis,” the MoD said yesterday.
Ukrainian sources close to the country’s government said Russia had used almost its entire stock of Kaliber cruise missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles in the first 20 days of the war.
“The invader continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on infrastructure and housing neighbourhoods of large cities, using indiscriminate weapons,” they added.
The Kremlin has so far failed to achieve its original objectives, according to Lt Gen Jim Hockenhull, Chief of Defence Intelligence.
“Russia has been surprised by the scale and ferocity of Ukrainian resistance, and has been bedevilled with problems of its own making,” he said.
Mach 1 is the speed of sound at sea level, roughly 767mph. Hypersonic missiles fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound at 3,836mph. This extreme speed makes them capable of penetrating the toughest sites. They are also highly manoeuvrable, unlike traditional ballistic missiles, so are able to avoid air defence systems.
Hypersonic missiles have a much
‘Russia has been surprised by the scale and ferocity of the Ukrainian resistance and has been bedevilled by problems of its own making’
“flatter” trajectory and fly closer to the Earth’s surface, so are detected much later by ground-based radars as they are shielded by the curvature of the Earth. This, together with the speed of the missiles, means defenders have little time to deploy countermeasures.
Russia has repeated warnings that its forces would target convoys carrying weapons into Ukraine, five days after it struck Yavoriv military training facility, near Ukraine’s border with Poland.
“We clearly said that any cargo moving into Ukrainian territory which we would believe is carrying weapons would be fair game,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during an interview with state-run television channel Russia Today (RT).
Western countries pledged this week to send more humanitarian and lethal aid to Ukraine.
President Joe Biden unveiled a $800million (£600million) aid package that included anti-tank and air defence missiles, ammunition and mortars.
Also included were Switchblade drones, which hover over battlefields before attacking pre-programmed targets, such as tanks, air defence units and artillery pieces.
Britain said it would deploy Sky Sabre, its latest medium-range air defence system, to Poland, in a warning to Mr Putin not to allow the war to encroach on Nato territory.
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, James Heappey, minister for the Armed Forces, said Sky Sabre was “the perfect air defence system” to bolster Poland’s defence as long-range systems, such as US Patriot missiles, could reach Russia and Western countries were determined not to allow Mr Putin to claim any deployments are intended to provoke him, or escalate the conflict.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, also said that Britain would supply Ukraine with Starstreak short-range air defence missiles. The fastest in their class of weapons, they fly at Mach 3 .
In October 2020, Russia said it had successfully trialled the Mach 8 Tsirkon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile and the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which is thought to capable of carrying nuclear warheads at 20 times the speed of sound.
Last year the British Government’s integrated review of foreign, defence, security and development policy committed £6.6 billion for novel military research into advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles.