Something like a media war broke out between the United States and Russia over Ukraine’s assurances of shooting down 6 “Kinjal” or “Dagger” hypersonic missiles, which Moscow boasts about and considers as its superweapon that will change the equation of the war in Ukraine.
The story began when the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, on Tuesday, that a concentrated strike with precision-guided long-range air and sea weapons was carried out at the deployment points of the Ukrainian forces units, and the storage places for ammunition, weapons and Western aid equipment.
And confirmed that the bombing hit all targets, among them – the US “Patriot” air defense system, which was destroyed in Kiev with a hypersonic “Kingal” missile.
But the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, responded by saying that the Ukrainian air defense systems shot down all those 18 missiles launched by Russia, which are 6 “Kinjal” missiles, 9 “Caliber” and 3 “Iskander” missiles.
Video clips of the Russian strike were spread on social media amid joy from Moscow’s supporters, while Ukraine’s supporters responded with negative clips confirming the response to the Russian air strike and the success of the Ukrainian defenses.
Mutual controversy
What added to the controversy was what Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov wrote on Twitter, saying: “Another remarkable achievement of the Ukrainian Air Force.. Last night, the defenders of our skies shot down 6 Russian hypersonic Kinjal missiles and 12 other missiles.”
But Moscow denied this, and its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, on Tuesday night, that Russia had fired only two Kinjal missiles.
Shoigu added, “Russia did not launch this number of Kinjal missiles, which Ukraine says it shot down,” noting that “the number of these Ukrainian interceptions is three times more than what we launched.”
On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the destruction of 22 Ukrainian marches, American and British missiles, the targeting of a Patriot system in Kiev, the downing of two fighter jets in Donetsk, and the liquidation of more than 570 militants on all axes.
American response
CNN quoted an unnamed US administration official as saying, “It is possible that the US-made Patriot system was damaged, but not destroyed, as a result of a Russian missile strike in and around Kiev early Tuesday morning local time.” .
The official said the United States was still assessing the extent of the damage. This will determine whether the system needs to be recovered entirely or simply repaired on the spot by the Ukrainians.
The American network said that Ukraine currently has two Patriot air defense systems in the country, one donated by the United States and the other donated by Germany and the Netherlands, and it is not clear which of these systems may have been damaged.
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Confronting “Patriot” and “Kingal” with the balance of experts
Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov commented on that confrontation, saying, “The destruction of the US Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery by the Russian Kinjal hypersonic missile threatens to leave Kiev without air defense systems.”
He added, “The happiness of the Ukrainian side to shoot down the Kinjal missile during the night raid on Kiev is short-sighted and incomprehensible.”
He continued, “It can be said that at the price of the full battery of the expensive US Patriot air defense system, the Ukrainians shot down one Kinjal missile, either out of stupidity or out of desperation to achieve any legendary victory, to destroy the Kinjal myth in Ukraine,” according to the Russian “Novosti” agency.
According to Leonkov, the “Patriot” air defense system is unable to shoot down hypersonic missiles such as the “Kinjal”, because:
- The SAM radar cannot track this missile due to the intercepted target’s maximum speed limit of Mach 3 in the opposite direction since when intercepted, during the pursuit, the counter missile must fly one and a half times faster than the “Kingal”, which is not available with the “Kingal”. Patriot”.
- The United States conducted tests to intercept hypersonic targets using the Patriot naval counterpart in the Aegis missile defense system, which showed the need for a very large number of missiles to intercept hypersonic targets.
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However, the American military expert, Peter Alex, told Sky News Arabia that the Kinjal missiles exaggerated their capabilities, and that the massive Russian propaganda that erupted around them, especially in the recent confrontation, to save the reputation of this weapon.
He added, “They are slightly modified ballistic missiles that fly a little faster because they are launched by a supersonic aircraft.”
But he added, “The Ukrainians may have definitely exaggerated, but they may have actually shot down several missiles, although the video clips confirm the destruction of at least one Patriot launcher.”
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2023-05-17 05:11:59
