Russia Claims Firing Hypersonic Missiles at Ukrainian Targets
Russia’s “Kinzhal” hypersonic missile is nuclear-capable with a range up to 2,000 km.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 23rd day, the Russian military claims to have fired several hypersonic missiles at Ukrainian targets.
“Russia has admitted to firing hypersonic weapons to destroy a missiles and weapons depot in western Ukraine,” the UK newspaper Independent reported. “The “dagger” missiles, that can evade defence systems, were deployed for the first time during Russia’s invasion to target the underground storage site in the Ivano-Frankivsk region – an official said.”
The dagger or “Kinzhal,” as the missile is known in Russian, is nuclear-capable and has a range up to 2,000 km, media reports say.
Russian Advance on Kyiv Halted
Meanwhile, the Russian ground offensive continues on several front. The invading forces have suffered heavy casualties, with the Ukrainian military claiming to have killed the fifth Russian general since the invasion began on February 24.
The media reports suggest that the Ukrainian defenders have managed to halt the Russian assault on Kyiv. The invading Russian forces, which were advancing in a pincer movement to encircle the capital city, appear to have come to a grinding halt.
The UK TV channel SkyNews reported:
Russia’s two main routes for attacking Kyiv have reportedly been blocked, according to CNN, which cited an update from the Ukrainian military.
Oleksandr Hruzevych, deputy chief of staff, reportedly said Russia forces trying to encircle the capital on both sides of the Dnipro river – which divides the city north to south – have been halted.
“As of today, the enemy has been stopped at a distance of almost 70 kilometres (about 43 miles) from the city’s right bank, which makes it impossible to carry out fire, except for rocket fire. On the left bank, the advance has [also] been stopped. The enemy is cynically shooting at our infrastructure facilities. [But] the main ways of attack are blocked,” he said on Friday.
In an update later in the day, the Ukraine defence ministry confirmed that Russia’s main tasks of encircling Kyiv “have not been fulfilled”.
Russian Forces Cut Ukraine’s Access to Strategic Sea of Azov
The Russian forces in the south are trying to cut Ukraine’s access to the sea. They have besieged key port cities and claimed to have made advance on multiple fronts.
Early Sunday morning, the Ukrainian defense ministry admitted losing access to the Sea of Azov, a strategic body of water connected to the Black Sea by the Krech Strait. The sea, home to Ukraine’s main port of Mariupol, is of great economic and military significance to the country.
The setback is ‘temporary,’ Ukrainian military sources claimed. “The occupiers have partially succeeded in the Donetsk operational district, temporarily depriving Ukraine of access to the Sea of Azov,” country’s defense ministry admitted.
Ukraine-Russia Agree on Refugee Corridors for Besieged Cities
The Ukrainian government on Saturday said that Russian forces have agreed on 10 corridors for allowing safe passage to the residents of the encircled cities. In past, Russians military had reportedly fired at such humanitarian corridors violating similar agreements.
The Associated Press reported the latest agreement:
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced Saturday that 10 humanitarian corridors have been agreed on with the Russians.
They include a corridor from the besieged port city of Mariupol, several in the Kyiv region and several in the Luhansk region.
She also announced plans to deliver humanitarian aid to the city of Kherson, which is currently under control of the Russian forces.
In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces are blockading the largest cities with the goal of creating such miserable conditions that Ukrainians will cooperate. He said the Russians are preventing supplies from reaching surrounded cities in central and southeastern Ukraine.
Satellite images on Friday from Maxar Technologies showed a long line of cars leaving Mariupol as people tried to evacuate. Zelenskyy said more than 9,000 people were able to leave the city in the past day.
China’s Xi Refuses to Help Biden on Ukraine Conflict
The Friday night call between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ended in an impasse.
The Chinese leader blamed President Biden for the conflict. “He who tied the bell to the tiger must take it off,” Xi told Biden according to an official Chinese readout.
The mainstream media had pinned great hopes on Biden’s telephone diplomacy. Biden used to call to “dissuade his Chinese counterpart from assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine, a pivotal moment that could determine the trajectory of the bloody conflict,” CNN reported.
Beijing has refused to recognize the latest round of U.S. and Western sanctions on Russia. Chinese state-run news outlets are churning out pro-Russian propaganda while reporting the war in Ukraine.
As Offensive Drags on, Putin Tries to Boost Public Moral
With Russian military casualties mounting in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin rallied the nation at a Moscow stadium on the anniversary marking country’s annexation of Crimea.
“We have not had unity like this for a long time,” President Putin told an audience of more than 80,000 at the stadium.
The pro-Putin crowd longed for the soviet imperialist glory. “The event included patriotic songs such as “Made in the U.S.S.R.,” with the opening lines “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, it’s all my country,” The Associated Press noted.
The BBC reported the celebration:
Eight years after Russian troops seized Ukraine’s southern region of Crimea, the event is being celebrated with flag-waving crowds in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium and special lessons in schools.
President Vladimir Putin made a special appearance before the crowd. State workers said they had been told to take part.
In schools, teachers held lessons marking the “Crimean spring”. The Russian army has used its bases in Crimea to seize towns and cities on Ukraine’s south coast. (…)
Officials said more than 200,000 people had gathered at the stadium, although the numbers could not be verified. The stadium’s official capacity is 81,000, but there were also large crowds outside.
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Comments
They are using a “hypersonic nuclear capable missile with a range of 2,000 km” against Ukraine but can’t seem to actually conquer the country. If true, let’s just hope that Putin doesn’t become desperate enough that he puts a nuclear weapon on one of those missiles and fires it off at Kyiv in a suicidal attempt to win this conflict he started.
The use of the hypersonic missile is very interesting.
The Russians don”t have many of those. They”ll find it difficult (especially under sanctions) to build more, and they already have to replace vast stocks of other cruise missiles.
A single weapons depot / ammunition store is quite a mundane target for a “don’t have many of these” strategic weapon.
So are Russia just out of other long range weapons, or is this intended to send a reminder to people outside Ukraine that anti-missile and other air defences can’t stop a Russian strike?
If it is, it went right over Silly Milley, Austin Powers and Biden The Demented’s heads.
From what I am seeing (assuming we can believe anything at all), the Russians are in utter disarray and can’t muster their logistics to keep their sieges supplied. They clearly do not have the ability to establish air superiority which is why their convoys are being devastated. Their pilots are not trained to fly in the formations that are required to be effective and are inexperienced. Those jets are firing their missiles from Russia, not over Ukraine. That is a big reason why a no-fly zone would be a mistake.
The Russians are just thugs with modern weapons. They are NOT a superpower economically nor militarily. They are just North Korea with better nuclear capability. And I believe we are allowing Putin’s threat of using his nukes to be effective because “our” side, the neocons, wants the old NWO of permanent war before Trump made America great again restored. So Russia has to prevail. THAT is what I am watching for.
Should Ukraine prevail and gain its independence, they need a government house cleaning as much as we do. As the Hunter Biden corruption case has revealed, there are plenty of Ukrainian leaders who deserve to be hanged. This was a completely avoidable war triggered by corrupt bumbling idiots.
If this was an actual hypersonic missile it’s more of a message for NATO than it was necessary to use against this target.
Hit enter too fast….
Plus it’s a real world test of a weapons system.
Exactly. Mundane target with little significance except precise hit with a threat of coming attractions if things go further south. But they have to control the land to “win” since they won’t control the hearts of most of the Ukrainians… especially as they destroy the cities in the part of Ukraine that “used” to support them.
I agree. We don’t need them to tell us they used one, we would know. But we already knew that had them, We probably just don’t know how many or if the Russians are capable of using them effectively.
I cannot even speculate how much one of those missiles cost.
I wonder what kind of target they selected…
“The launches were likely intended to test the weapons and send a message to the West about Russian capabilities.”
Look out, Putin!
We have a brand new trans four-star admiral!
S/he’s never served a day in the military — much less combat —
but we’re pretty sure s/he could settle your wife’s hash right out of the starting gate!
So there!