Russia’s latest missile attack on Ukraine fails
A MiG-31K fighter jet and the Kinzhal missile. Photo via EPA

Russia used X-47 Kinzhal missiles and X-22 missiles to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure overnight on Thursday, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian Tu-22M3 bombers launched three X-22 cruise missiles from the Sea of Azov, while MiG-31K fighters launched the same number of Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles.

All of the missiles were taken down by Ukraine’s air defences.

The Russians also attacked with four Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, three of which were shot down.

The Air Force stressed that the enemy missiles did not reach their targets in the Dnipro region, without specifying what those could have been.

Russia has been regularly launching missile and drone attacks on Ukraine since last September, apparently in an attempt to exhaust Ukrainian air defences, which have prevented it from using aviation more freely.

In turn, Ukraine’s bolstered up its air defence capabilities with Western systems, including Patriot, NASAMS, and IRIS-T systems, as well as preliminary arrangements to train its pilots for F-16 aircraft.

war in UkraineAir Forceair defencemissile attack