Russia reported that it had used the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, a ballistic missile able to fly at the speed of Mach 10 or 12,000 kilometers per hour, twice to target military facilities in Ukraine.
The first strike of the Kinzhal (‘Dagger’), most likely carried by a MiG-31K fighter, took place on March 18, 2022, according to Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region,” Konashenkov reported on March 19, 2022.
Though tested successfully in 2018, the Kh-47M2 had never been reported as being used in combat before.
Further Kinzjal hypersonic missile strikes were reported in a Russian Ministry of Defense briefing note on March 20, 2022. “From the airspace over the territory of the Crimea, aviation missile systems “Dagger” with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large base for storing fuel and lubricants of the Ukrainian armed forces near the village of Konstantinovka, Mykolaiv region,” the note said, without specifying when these additional strikes took place.
