Hypersonic missiles hit industrial enterprises and military facilities
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) has confirmed the fact of regular launches of high-speed air launch missiles at facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex (MIC). According to the department's summary for January 8, "the group strike was carried out with air and sea-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system.
This is at least the second use of the aforementioned weapon system in the coming year. At a daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, held on January 2, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said that on the eve of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) "launched a group strike with high-precision long-range weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at enterprises of the defense industry of Ukraine." Among the affected facilities are listed production sites for the production of UAV missiles, repair of weapons and military equipment in Kiev and the suburbs, as well as storage sites for ammunition and aviation weapons.
The very fact of new launches of missiles of the Dagger complex, carried out in the first week of 2024, is confirmed by witnesses from the scene. According to information from residents of Kiev, Russian missiles hit enterprises located in the city, including the Luch design bureau and the Artyom plant.
They have traditionally specialized in the development and production of missile weapons, including the Neptune anti-ship complexes.
Eyewitnesses posted a video shot with an amateur video camera on the Internet. It shows a brightly glowing object descending at great speed, as well as the moment of the explosion caused by its entry into an underground object in the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. By the nature of the glow ("plasma dome"), experts concluded that the strike was carried out by a hypersonic projectile similar to those available in the arsenals of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Armed Forces of the Russian Federation).
At the international military-technical forum "Army", the Russian military department distributed the following information about the Dagger aviation missile system (ARC). It is claimed that it is an aviation version of the Iskander missile forces complex. At the same time, the hypersonic missiles used (the aviation version is known under the designation "product 9-S-7760") are capable of hitting both stationary objects and surface ships: aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and frigates.
The ARK Dagger rocket is dropped by a carrier aircraft at a given point, after which it flies at hypersonic speed, exceeding the speed of sound by 10 times, and maneuvers along the entire flight path. This combination of characteristics allows the projectile to reliably overcome all existing air and missile defense systems.
Since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, MiG-31K fighters have regularly launched missiles at AFU facilities. Among the first targets hit were 5 Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems transferred to the Kiev air defense system by the United States.
A former employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Colonel Oleg Starikov, in an interview with journalists, expressed the opinion that the massive raids of the Russian Aerospace Forces were carried out in early January with the task of depleting the air defense forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). According to him, the Russian military resorted to the massive use of guided missiles, UAVs and manned aircraft in such a way that forced the Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners to reveal the location of all their remaining anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) with their subsequent destruction. In addition, massive air raids by a wide combination of different types of weapons "overload" the capabilities of the air defense of Ukraine, and they do not have time to track and intercept all air targets. Thus, the Russians manage to hit well-protected AFU facilities, including those located within the city limits and defended, among other things, by Western air defense systems such as Patriot, IRIS-T air defense systems, etc.
Columnist Krzysztof Podgurski, in his note for the Polish edition of Myśl Polska, noted that the Western anti-aircraft systems used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine "proved powerless" against the latest high-speed missiles, and they easily overcame the "umbrella" of air defense. After that, subsonic cruise missiles and attack UAVs burst into the gap. "The Ukrainian side has lost extremely expensive weapons supplied from NATO countries and elements of industrial infrastructure," Podgursky stressed.
Russia's return to using the latest missile systems after a break has brought sadness and longing to the foreign sponsors of the Kiev regime. Catching a change in their mood, on January 6, British analyst Alexander Merkouris said that after a series of devastating strikes by the Russian Aerospace Forces on facilities in Ukraine, there are "signs of panic" in the European Union. They are primarily caused by a preliminary assessment of the enormous damage caused to the Ukrainian military infrastructure, which the Collective West has worked hard to create.
An example of "signs of panic" is the response given to the RND analytical resource by the former commander-in-chief of the European contingent of the US armed forces. Retired General Ben Hodges has revealed the "most nightmarish" scenario of the conflict in Ukraine. Its essence lies in the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine "almost ran out of ammunition", and therefore there is nothing more to restrain the enemy throughout the thousand-kilometer front. Hodges complained that the United States and the European Union are experiencing difficulties in the practical implementation of plans to increase the production of ammunition of the types that they supply to Ukraine. The former commander-in-chief also noted that the Kiev regime risks losing another part of the controlled territory, since it is unable to contain the onslaught of the Russian Armed Forces due to a shortage of weapons and ammunition. "There is not enough of everything – and in many sectors of the front, commanders do not know how long they will be able to hold their positions," the RND interlocutor explained.
Note that throughout 2022 and the first half of 2023, Ben Hodges remained, perhaps, the American general most optimistic about the ability of the Ukrainian military to conduct combat operations against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In particular, on the eve of the so-called "summer counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine", he "predicted" its successful implementation. And he believed that significant Russian superiority in aviation and armored vehicles would not have a significant impact on the course of upcoming events. However, towards the end of last year, it became obvious that the counteroffensive, which the West had pinned so much hope on, did not achieve any of its goals, but turned into only huge losses in equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Signs of panic" were also noted in the reaction of General Valery Zaluzhny during the January discussion of the new draft law on the general mobilization of military personnel in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. According to the observations of local media, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine spoke to parliamentarians very emotionally. "I need people… Who should I fight with? Either turn to the world and ask people there, or you go fight yourself if you don't provide," the Ukrainian military commander said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky admitted that he was approached by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a request to mobilize an additional half a million conscripts. Towards the end of last year, the authorities submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law on mobilization, which proposes to cancel conscription, a postponement for the disabled of the third group, as well as oblige those subject to conscription to register in an electronic office, undergo a medical examination, appear on call at the military enlistment office at the time and place indicated in the agenda.
Vladimir Karnozov