The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, confirmed that the Ukrainian military had shot down a Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” for the first time. It happened on the evening of 4 May over Kyiv region.
“I congratulate the Ukrainian people on this historic event! Yes, we have shot down the ‘unparalleled’ Kinzhal! It happened during a night attack on 4 May in the sky of Kyiv region. The X-47 missile was fired by a MiG-31K from the territory of Russia,” the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian Air Force Command said.
According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on Twitter, this was done by the operators of the Patriot air defence system (Yuri Svitlyk wrote about this system in detail – see the review here).
.@KpsZSU confirms that Ukraine's air defenders shot down Kinzhal, a hypersonic aeroballistic russian missile, for the first time since the attacks began. This was done by operators of Patriot air defense system.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 6, 2023
On the evening of 4 May, an air raid alert was announced in the Kyiv region, during which the sound of an explosion was heard in Kyiv. It was reported that air defence systems were operating. Three hours later, a comment was posted on the official website of the Ukrainian Air Force Command: “On 4 May, at about 20:00, a Bayraktar TB2 UAV lost control of its controls during a scheduled flight in the Kyiv region. Since the UAV’s uncontrolled presence in the capital’s sky could have led to undesirable consequences, it was decided to deploy mobile fire teams.” Presumably, the cause was a technical malfunction.
Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat later added that the Bayraktar TB2 drone shot down over Kyiv was the only one in the airspace of Kyiv region, and it was because of it that the air alert was announced.
However, later some sources began to report that it was not a Bayraktar, but a Kinzhal hypersonic missile. It was identified by experts thanks to the wreckage. For obvious reasons, the military leadership decided not to immediately release information about the downing of the X-47 Kinzhal by the Patriot system, but today this event has been officially confirmed.
“And one more thing, there is no need to run, as they say in Ukraine: ‘Before the father goes to hell’, to make public information that the enemy can use in advance! We will definitely report what, where, with what, and when we shot down! Everything has its time,” said Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk.
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