Russia has touted its Kinschal missiles as "unstoppable." Ukraine is now showing the opposite. This has consequences for Russia's strategy.
Kyiv – Russia has hailed its Kinschal missiles as a "silver bullet." The rockets travel at up to ten times the speed of sound. According to Russian propaganda, this makes them unstoppable and unreachable for conventional air defense, and accordingly a danger to Ukraine. This staging is now apparently collapsing.
Ukraine has managed to intercept six Russian Kinschal missiles over Kyiv, according to reports from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. The projectiles were part of a series of 18 missiles fired by Russia on Tuesday night (May 16, 2023).
Shooting down by Ukraine has "devastating consequences" for Russia
Ukraine did not say what weapons were used to shoot it down. According to the Tagesspiegel, military expert Fabian Hoffmann of the University of Oslo assumes that the Kinschal missiles were shot down with the US Patriot system. At the beginning of May, Kiev reported that it had shot down Kinschal missiles with the Patriots. However, Russia denied it.
A fighter jet launches a Kinschal missile, which Russia has long propagated as "unstoppable." (Archive photo) © SNA/Imago
"This has devastating consequences for the credibility of the Russian army and Russian technology," Sergei Sumlenny, an expert on Eastern Europe and founder of the European Resilience Initiative Center think tank, told Newsweek. Normally, an air defense should have been overwhelmed in 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 modern Russian weapon that the Russians have ever used against Ukraine," Sumlenny said. The possibilities of a successful nuclear attack by Russia would have to be assessed as significantly lower. Russia had repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Fabian Hoffmann, who is a researcher at the University of Oslo on the politics and strategy of nuclear weapons, has a similar view. Ukraine's ability to intercept missiles in such an intense, time-coordinated, multi-vector attack indicates that even if they are armed with tactical nuclear warheads, there is a good chance that they will not reach their target, Hoffmann told Newsweek.
It should not encourage the West to risk a nuclear escalation of the Ukraine war. However, Hoffmann does not believe that a nuclear confrontation would be in Russia's interests. (ms)