The Russian military has said that it used its latest hypersonic missile, Kinzhal, for the first time in combat during its offensive in Ukraine.
Spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Major General Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Konashenkov also said that the Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa.
A Ukrainian military official confirmed to a local news outlet that Russian forces carried out a missile strike on Friday on a missile and ammunition warehouse but Ukraine’s Air Forces spokesman Yurii Ihnat told the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper on Saturday that it is yet to be confirmed whether the missile the Russians used was indeed Kinzhal, the county’s latest hypersonic missile, or some other kind.
Ukrainian officials say their forces there are battling the Russians over the Azovstal steel plant, one of the biggest in Europe.