Russia’s military said it used hypersonic missiles for the first time in its weekslong invasion of Ukraine to destroy an ammunition depot in the western part of the country.
The “Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” was deployed on Friday in an attack that “destroyed a large underground warehouse” that housed missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Delyatyn, which is roughly 380 miles west of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a Telegram channel post on Russian state media.
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His claims have not been independently verified, and Russian officials have often deviated from or exaggerated the truth to justify their actions throughout the invasion.
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Hypersonic missiles reach at least 10 times the speed of sound, and such missiles often are more maneuverable and fly closer to the surface, making it much harder to defend from an incoming attack.
Russian forces have appeared to resort to targeting civilian populations and civilian infrastructure. Mariupol, a southern port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, has faced multiple attacks on civilian populations. Days ago, one of the more than 1,000 rockets launched by Russia hit a maternity hospital. Five people died, while more than a dozen more were injured. More recently, Russia bombed a theater that had been acting as a shelter, even though people had spelled out the word “children” in Russian in the front and back of the facility.
Despite the offensive, Russia has sustained heavy losses during the length of the incursion, both in terms of personnel and equipment.
The estimated death toll for Russian forces is “around 14,000,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is incentivized to overstate the figure, said on Thursday morning. The United States estimates that roughly half that number have been killed, according to the New York Times.
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Russians have also lost nearly 450 tanks, more than 1,400 armored fighting vehicles, roughly 200 artillery systems, and dozens of salvo fire systems, anti-aircraft systems, military aircraft, and helicopters, the military staff added.
Russian forces have been met with a powerful resistance from Ukrainians that surprised U.S. officials, and the Pentagon says it also caught Russia off-guard. Russian forces have “largely stalled across the country” due to the strength of the resistance, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday.
