On Tuesday (5/16/23), Ukraine displayed impressive air defense skills when it managed to detect and defuse six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles headed toward Kyiv. This success attests to the superiority of the Ukrainian air defense systems in protecting against this dangerous and sophisticated menace.
The attack was an organized military operation utilizing eighteen missiles of different varieties. Included in the missiles were the Russians’ self-proclaimed indestructible Kinzhal missiles, which were luckily warded off by Ukraine’s air defenses. Moscow has rebuffed the Kinzhal interception and purported the downfall of a US Patriot air defense system; however, Ukraine has stayed silent on the subject. No supporting facts have been discovered to validate either of the conflicting arguments.
The recent activity in Russia has shed light on their increasingly aggressive aerial activity, which has caused Kyiv to experience eight separate bombings in the last four weeks. This indicates that an attack from Ukraine may be on the horizon. Yet, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, denied Ukraine’s assertion regarding the amount of Kinzhal missiles that had been fired from Moscow.
Ukraine’s remarkable ability to defend against hypersonic missiles can be largely attributed to the adoption of the latest Western defense technologies, such as the Patriot missiles. This has provoked the Russians as their highly-valued weaponry is now susceptible to interception, which contradicts their previous assertions that the Kinzhal missiles could outrun any current air defense systems with a speed of 11,000 km/h (7,000 mph).
A recent tour by President Volodymyr Zelensky has so far yielded significant diplomatic victories and strengthened Ukraine’s position on the global stage. During his European tour, President Zelensky engaged in fruitful discussions with key Western allies, including President Emmanuel Macron of France and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. These discussions resulted in substantial commitments of military equipment and support, amounting to several billion dollars.
