Russia has touted its Kinzhal missiles as “unstoppable.” Ukraine is now showing the opposite. This has consequences for Russian strategy.
KIEV – Russia has hailed its Kinzhal missiles as a “silver bullet”. The rockets travel at up to ten times the speed of sound. According to Russian propaganda, they are therefore unstoppable and cannot be reached by conventional air defense systems and are therefore a danger to Ukraine. This staging is now apparently collapsing.
According to reports from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has managed to intercept six Russian Kinzhal missiles over Kiev. The missiles were part of a series of 18 rockets that Russia fired on Tuesday night (May 16, 2023).
Kinschall shooting down by Ukraine has “devastating consequences” for Russia
Ukraine did not say which weapons were used to shoot it down. Military expert Fabian Hoffmann from the University of Oslo goes loud daily mirror assumes that the Kinzhal missiles were launched using the US Patriot system. Kiev had already reported in early May that it had shot down Kinzhal missiles with the Patriots. However, Russia denied him.
“This has devastating consequences for the credibility of the Russian army and Russian technology,” Eastern Europe expert and founder of the European Resilience Initiative Center think tank Sergei Sumlenny told the American news portal Newsweek. Normally, an anti-aircraft defense should have been overwhelmed by such attacks.
Fewer chances of a successful nuclear attack by Russia in the Ukraine war – according to experts
“We now know that, with the help of Western equipment, Ukraine is capable of repelling the heaviest Russian attack with the most advanced Russian weaponry that the Russians have ever used against Ukraine,” Sumlenny said. The chances of a successful nuclear attack by Russia must be assessed as significantly lower. Russia has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Fabian Hoffmann, who studies nuclear weapons policy and strategy at the University of Oslo, takes a similar view. Ukraine’s ability to intercept missiles in such an intense, time-coordinated, multi-vector attack indicates that even armed with tactical nuclear warheads, there’s a good chance they won’t hit their target, Hoffmann told the news portal Newsweek.
It should not encourage the West to risk a nuclear escalation in the Ukraine war. However, Hoffmann does not believe that a nuclear confrontation would be in Russia’s interest. (ms)