Unprecedented case: peculiarity of Russia’s Kh-22 missile attack on Kyiv

Russia has struck Kyiv with Kh-22 anti-ship missiles for the first time in a long while. Ukraine's air defence forces destroyed 9 out of the 12 missiles.

Source: Colonel Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of Ukraine's Air Force Command, on news channel Kyiv 24

Quote: "These missiles, the Kh-22s, haven't appeared in reports for a long time. The peculiarity of this attack lies precisely in the use of these missiles… Kh-22 missiles were originally designed to be used against aircraft carrier groups (that is their primary purpose). They can carry different types of warheads. Their key feature is that the combat payload of this missile is 950 kilograms.

Today, the enemy used 12 such missiles against Kyiv (this is an unprecedented case), launched from strategic aviation aircraft – Tu-22M3 bombers, which the enemy redeployed from the Far East closer to Ukraine."

Details: Ihnat recalled that in 2023, a Kh-22 missile destroyed an entire section of a residential building in Dnipro, killing many people. Since then, the Russians have used these missiles less frequently against mainland Ukraine, focusing more on the south of the country (such as oil platforms and Zmiinyi (Snake) Island).

Ihnat said that a total of 412 Kh-22 or Kh-32 missiles have been used against Ukraine, of which only three had been downed so far. With the latest attack, air defence has added another nine, bringing the total number destroyed to 12.

Ihnat also noted that such missiles follow a ballistic trajectory. Only Patriot systems are capable of intercepting targets of this type.

Background: On the night of 23-24 January, the Russians carried out a combined attack on Ukraine using missiles of various types launched from air and ground platforms, as well as attack UAVs. The Air Force reported 396 recorded aerial attack assets. The military said that 372 aerial assets were shot down or jammed.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!