Bright flashes lit up the night sky over the Ukrainian capital during the eighth air attack on the city this month. Ukraine says it downed all 18 missiles, according to Al Jazeera.
Ukraine’s air defense intercepted six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles fired by Russia early Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said.
In one of the largest aerial assaults since early March, Russia also launched nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea, three short-range ballistic missiles from land and a number of drones, according to the commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. All of the drones and missiles were shot down, the military said, The New York Times reported.
It was not immediately clear how many of them were aimed at the capital, Kiev, which local officials said was targeted overnight with an “exceptional” blitz of missiles and drones. The skies over Kiev lit up around 3 am with thunderous explosions as air defenses collided with the incoming missiles, raining debris across the city.
Hypersonic missiles are long-range munitions capable of reaching speeds of at least Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound, or more than a mile a second.