[Korrespondent] Russia's overnight strike on Kyiv was the largest ballistic missile attack of the war.
On the night of Thursday, April 24, the Russian army carried out the largest-scale attack on Kyiv during the entire full-scale war using ballistic missiles. The strike was combined: North Korean KN-23s, cruise missiles and "shaheeds" were launched almost simultaneously.
The official report of the Ukrainian Air Force states that the Russians used 11 ballistic missiles, which were launched from sites in the Bryansk, Voronezh and Kursk regions of Russia. Seven missiles were shot down by air defense systems.
As for other threats, 31 of 37 Kh-101 cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS bombers were neutralized, all four Kh-59/Kh-69 missiles. Six of 12 sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles were shot down, but none of the six Iskander-K cruise missiles. In addition, the Russians used 145 "shaheeds", 13 of which were not destroyed.
The missile that killed eight people in Kiev's Svyatoshinsky district was North Korean, Defense Express reports , citing sources who have already examined the debris. A video of the KN-23 falling into a residential area of Kiev has spread on social media, showing another cloud from the explosion.
Journalists note that even if a ballistic missile is hit, it still falls and if the warhead is not destroyed, it detonates on the ground.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's intelligence service stated that Russia had modified the KN-23 to achieve greater accuracy and reliability. Apparently, as the media believes, the adjustments made by Russian specialists allow the enemy to more actively use the KN-23 to strike targets such as "residential areas." The goal of such attacks is to sow panic and kill the civilian population of Ukraine.
"HOLES" IN THE AIR DEFENSE
Today's attack on Kyiv was the largest in terms of the use of ballistics, said the CEO of the company producing electronic warfare equipment, aviation expert Anatoly Khrapchinsky. He recalled how last year during one attack the enemy used about 10 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, but that strike was dispersed across almost the entire territory of Ukraine.
"We must not forget the recent ballistic shelling of Kiev, when we intercepted a small number of missiles, and this was due to a change in the missile's flight trajectory at the last stage. That is, additional maneuvers that did not allow us to intercept. Now we see that most of the ballistic missiles were intercepted. We say that our air defense is adapting to the enemy's modern requirements," Khrapchinsky said on the air of the Public .
At the same time, the expert adds that the enemy sees "holes" in the Ukrainian air defense system and is trying to work on them, including by loading it with cruise missiles. In his opinion, the enemy's extremely complex actions require systems for detecting any air targets.
"IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE"
The consequences of today's shelling of the capital could have been worse if all the ballistic missiles had hit, says the representative of the Ukrainian Air Force Command Yuriy Ignat. In general, he called the work of the air defense at night "a pretty good result."
"Of course, there are terrible consequences of the Russian attack... Hitting cities with millions of people with ballistic missiles is not just a crime, it is terrorism. It is hard to imagine what would have happened if all those ballistic missiles that were launched today, first of all, at the capital of Ukraine, had reached their targets," he noted.
The Air Force representative also noted the work of Ukrainian tactical aviation: "These are F-16, Mirage pilots, they gave good results today. Several dozen air targets were shot down by our Ukrainian pilots. We want to once again note in the Air Force that the effectiveness of Western aircraft is quite high today."
At the same time, according to him, the F-16 and Mirage, as well as the old fleet of Soviet aircraft, can only shoot down targets that fly along an aerodynamic trajectory, that is, cruise missiles and drones, and, unfortunately, only the Patriot systems work on ballistics.