As of: February 14, 2024, 5:54 p.m
By: Babett Gumbrecht
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Press
Split
According to Ukrainian reports, Moscow fired a hypersonic Zircon missile at Kiev for the first time.
Why this type of weapon is particularly treacherous.
Kiev - They are particularly treacherous and are considered Vladimir Putin's ace up his sleeve: hypersonic weapons.
Because they are difficult to intercept because they can reach more than five times the speed of sound and are maneuverable.
This also includes the “Zircon” hypersonic missile, which the Kremlin described as “invisible” because it is very difficult for enemy air defenses to stop.
This type of weapon is said to have been used for the first time in the Ukraine war.
Remnants of the air raid in early February: fragments come from zircon
Last week, the capital Kiev was attacked by the Russian military with a “Zircon”.
Evidence of this has now been provided by remaining fragments examined by the Kiev Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Investigations (KNDISE).
According to experts, the remnants of the air attack on February 7th can be attributed to a 3M22 Zircon rocket.
The institute's director, Oleksandr Ruvin, published the first results of the KNDISE on his Telegram channel on Monday (February 12), adding that the missile in question "was aimed at an area where there are no military facilities, civilian ones Infrastructure and civilians were affected”.
According to Ukrainian information, five people are said to have been killed in the attack.
Zircon missiles have a maximum range of about a thousand kilometers.
The weapon was first tested in October 2020, and several more attempts have followed since then.
At the beginning of 2023, Moscow announced that the Zirkon hypersonic missile would be added to the Russian army's arsenal.
The weapon can travel at nine times the speed of sound and has a warhead weighing around 300 to 400 kilograms, reports the Reuters news agency.
Arms race: China, America, Russia and North Korea are researching hypersonic weapons
According to the German Institute for Defense Science and Strategic Studies (GIDS), the Chinese, Americans and Russians are researching extremely efficient weapons.
The institute calls this type of weapon “an additional instrument of escalation.”
And North Korea is also researching hypersonic weapons.
In fact, the self-proclaimed nuclear power North Korea said it made further progress in developing long-range missiles with hypersonic warheads earlier this year.
According to the German Press Agency (dpa), the country under Kim Jong-un had significantly increased the scope of its missile tests in the past two years and increased rhetoric against the USA and South Korea.
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According to the GIDS experts, the use of hypersonic weapons poses a threat. Especially for Ukraine, which has problems securing its airspace even without the use of extremely efficient hypersonic weapons.
Western allies, including the United States, have continually pushed to bolster Ukraine's air defenses in the face of Russian aggression.
According to a
CNN
report citing Ukrainian Air Force data, Kiev was only able to intercept two-thirds of the missiles and drones fired by Russia in the February 7 attack.
More support for Ukrainian airspace: Netherlands sends 24 fighter jets
The EU is pushing for better support for Ukraine in the airspace for 2024.
It was only at the beginning of February that NATO member Netherlands promised that it would now deliver 24 fighter jets to Ukraine instead of the previously planned 18.
This was announced by Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren on X (formerly Twitter).
“Ukraine’s air sovereignty is critical to deterring Russian aggression,” Ollongren wrote in her post.
(bg/dpa/Reuters)