Vladimir Putin launched a hypersonic missile in a bid to down a target in Kyiv last week, only for the hi-tech weapon to be shot down over the Ukrainian capital, experts have claimed.
The Ukraine-based Defense Express website published the findings of its investigation earlier this week, related to Russian airstrikes on the city on February 7.
Its report states: “During the missile attack Russian forces used a 3M22 Zircon missile to try and strike down a target in Ukraine‘s capital city, Kyiv.”
Photographs published on the website “pointed to the possibility”, the report claimed.
It continued: “The photos of wreckage found after the missile points to this possibility.
“Specifically, one of the photos shows a piece of debris with a 3M22 marking corresponding to this type of missile, which alongside the Kh-47 Kinzhal belongs to the so-called ‘Putin’s wunderwaffe,’ or simply Russian most-advertised ‘hypersonic’ weapons of long-range strike capability.
“On the other hand, the brief notice from the Air Force from 7.46am local time warned the citizens of a high-velocity missile approaching Kyiv.”
Defense Express had reached out to its sources for clarification and had concluded that the missile’s fragmentation was too high, making identification difficult.
It added: “The lack of reference data about this missile, that Russia keeps hidden from the public, complicates the issue even further.
“On a reminder note, even the current status of this weapon is uncertain: first, it was announced as already in service, then on January 27 this year it transpired that the order to adopt the missile had not been issued by the defence minister yet.”
However, Defense Express had concluded the fragments discovered matched the pieces of another unidentified missile which was used in a similar attack a month ago.
It said: “When those debris were found, there was the exact same assumption made about them belonging to a 3M22 Zircon. Therefore, it could not be the first time Russia deployed Zircon.
“For reference, Russian military and media call their Zircon a ‘hypersonic weapon’, a claim not supported by data gathered during the live fire testing.”
“Most likely, it was powered by solid fuel and allegedly capable of reaching Mach 9 speed.
“The flight range in most of the cases is said to be 600km, although occasionally, the figure of 1,000 km comes across.”
There were only a handful of vessels which can launch Zircon, Defense Express pointed out the Admiral Gorshkov frigate (Project 22350) and the K-560 Severodvinsk nuclear submarine (Project 885 Yasen), both stationed too far from Ukraine for a missile to reach.
If confirmed, the only other options were the adapted Bastion-P missile system or the Object-100 in Crimea, the website suggested.
It concluded: “Now the rest is up to Ukrainian officials to comment.
“It would also be interesting to monitor the Russian reaction to the potential downing of another ‘invincible’ weapon of their manufacture because.
“After the initial reports of Kh-47 Kinzhal missiles repelled by Patriot systems, they first denied the fact altogether then started to explain to the domestic audience that Kinzhal wasn’t supposed to be that unbeatable in the first place.”
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