Ukraine said on Tuesday it had shot down six Russian Kinzhal missiles in a single night, thwarting a weapon Moscow has touted as a next-generation hyper-sonic missile that was all but unstoppable.
It was the first time Ukraine had claimed to have struck an entire volley of multiple Kinzhal missiles, and if confirmed would be a demonstration of the effectiveness of Kyiv's newly deployed Western air defenses.
Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine early on Tuesday and were heard over the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding region for more than three hours.
"The enemy's mission is to sow panic and create chaos. However, in the northern operational zone (including Kyiv), everything is under complete control," General Serhiy Naev, Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces, said.
The six Kinzhals were among a volley of 18 missiles Russia fired at Ukraine overnight, lighting up Kyiv with flashes and raining debris after they were blasted from the sky.
It was not clear which Western weapon Ukraine used to defeat the Kinzhals. The Pentagon had no immediate comment.
For its part, Russia's defense ministry claimed to have destroyed a US-built Patriot surface-to-air missile defense system with a Kinzhal missile, the Zvezda military news outlet reported.
But the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said all had been successfully intercepted.
Kyiv authorities said three people were wounded by falling debris.
"It was exceptional in its density - the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said on Telegram.
Zvezda quoted the Russian ministry as saying the attacks had been aimed at Ukrainian fighting units and ammunition storage sites.
Zaluzhnyi said his forces had intercepted the six Kinzhals launched from aircraft, as well as nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three Iskanders fired from land.
Reuters