According to Ukraine, Russia fired six Kinjal missiles simultaneously at its soil
Demonstration of a Russian Air Force MiG-31K aircraft, carrying a Kinjal missile, for 73 years since the end of World War II, in Moscow in 2018. AP
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Russia intensively bombed a large part of Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday March 9, killing at least six civilians and cutting off the electricity supply to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant for a few hours.
According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow fired six hypersonic Kinjal missiles, an unprecedented number until then.
kyiv has no means of shooting down this type of projectiles.
What are these missiles described as invincible by the Kremlin?
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"Kinjal" in Russian is the dagger.
A very fast missile which, above all, can change trajectory.
It is therefore able to challenge the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses.
It is a breakthrough weapon, the symbol of Russian technological advance in the field of hypersonics.
The missile is one of six "
invincible weapons
" unveiled by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in March 2018.
The Kinjal is derived from the Iskander ballistic missile.
With an estimated range of 2,000 kilometres, it can carry a conventional charge or a nuclear warhead.
It would be able to reach the speed of Mach 10, which leaves almost no reaction time for opposing defenses.
Designed as an anti-ship missile, described as an "aircraft carrier killer", the Kinjal nevertheless had its baptism of fire on dry land in Ukraine.
But the simultaneous firing of six missiles is a first and is a show of force.
This is a message to the West.
Because the Russians have developed this type of armament to escape the most sophisticated defense systems, such as the American anti-missile shield.
If the use of Kinjal will not give a significant advantage to the Russian forces on the ground, the interest for Moscow is elsewhere: it is a way of intimidating NATO.
►Read again: Russia deploys “Kinjal” hypersonic missiles in Kaliningrad
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