NEW DELHI: Russia has reportedly used “powerful missiles", including hypersonic, in a wave of new missile strikes across Ukraine. As many as 81 missiles were used on Ukrainian infrastructure during Thursday morning’s massive attack, including the famed Kinzhals, or “Daggers” in Russian, that can evade Kyiv’s air defences, the Ukrainian military said, according to CNN.

Russia has reportedly used “powerful missiles", including hypersonic, in a wave of new missile strikes across Ukraine. c including the famed Kinzhals, or “Daggers” in Russian, that can evade Kyiv’s air defences, the Ukrainian military said, according to CNN.

“The attack is really large-scale and for the first time using such different types of missiles. We see that this time as many as six Kinzhal were used. This is an attack like I don’t remember seeing before,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of Ukraine, said on Ukrainian television Thursday.

The Ukrainian military claimed that they were able to successfully shoot down 34 cruise missiles and four Iranian-made Shahed drones.
“So far, we have no capabilities to counter these weapons,” he added, referring to the Kinzhals.

He further said that among the lethal mix of missiles, Russian forces have also launched six X-22 air-launched cruise missiles— a Soviet-era long-range airborne supersonic cruise missile.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday described it “a difficult night” in a Facebook message as Ukrainian forces struggled to fend off the latest barrage of attacks.

“The enemy fired 81 missiles in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians again, returning to their miserable tactics. The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done,” Zelensky said.

He said that 10 regions were targeted in the aerial attack, including Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, adding that the attacks hit “critical infrastructure and residential buildings.”

Later in the day, Russia’s defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov confirmed using hypersonic missiles.
"High-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine's military infrastructure," he was quoted as saying according to BBC.