The Pentagon, while unable to confirm or refute Russia’s claim to have launched a hypersonic missile at Ukraine, said that the use of such a weapon would not demonstrate “a whole lot of practicality.”
A Russian military official said that Russia had used a “Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” and “destroyed a large underground warehouse” on Friday.
A senior Pentagon official told reporters on Monday that the Defense Department couldn’t confirm or deny the validity of Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov’s claim, though the official described the move, if true, as “a bit of a head-scratcher, to be honest.”
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“Why would you need a hypersonic missile fired from not that far away to hit a building?” the official asked rhetorically, later hypothesizing that it could be because Russia is “low on precision-guided munitions and feel like they need to tap into that resource.” The official also speculated that the Russians could be “trying to send a message to the West, but also to Ukraine and trying to gain some leverage at the negotiating table.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who recently returned from a trip to Europe to visit allies, said the alleged use of the weapon is not “a game changer” during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
“I think, again, the reason that he’s resorting to using these types of weapons is because he’s trying to reestablish momentum. We’ve seen him attack towns and cities and civilians outright, and we expect to see that continue,” he said. “You kind of question why he would be doing this — is he running low on precision-guided munitions? Does he lack complete confidence in the ability of his troops to reestablish momentum?”
Russian forces have launched more than 1,100 missiles since the start of their invasion three and a half weeks ago, the official said. As a result of using more than they anticipated, they’ve been forced to use “older, less precise weapons,” putting civilian lives at risk, the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry said last week.
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“Given the delays in achieving their objectives and failure to control Ukrainian airspace, Russia has probably expended far more stand-off air launched weapons than originally planned,” the British Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update. “As a result, it is likely Russia is resorting to the use of older, less precise weapons, which are less militarily effective and more likely to result in civilian casualties.”
There have been 925 civilians killed, while another 1,496 have been wounded, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced on Monday, while another 1,496 have been wounded, though the U.N. warned that the tolls are both likely “considerably higher” but that information can be hard to verify in the middle of a war.
