Kyiv has been attacked by ballistic missiles - they can only be shot down by MIM-104 Patriot and SAMP/T systems

At around 05:00 (EDT) or 02:00 (PDT), Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv. The command of the Ukrainian Air Force has said that ballistic missiles were used.

Here's What We Know

Air Force spokesman Colonel Yuriy Ignat has said that the strike was apparently carried out by 9M723 rockets of the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system. They are launched from ground-based launchers and have a warhead weighing half a ton. The exact type will be determined later. The same is true for the effectiveness of repulsing an attack.

Russia also uses S-400 air defence systems. In the case of strikes against ground targets, the missiles also fly on a ballistic trajectory. The 48N6DM (pictured below) has a launch range of more than 200km and a warhead weighing almost 200kg.

The difficulty in intercepting ballistic missiles is the lack of reaction time. Today, about 10 minutes elapsed between the air-raid alert in Kyiv and the first explosions.

In the case of the X-101 and X-555 cruise missiles, their journey from the launch site (Caspian Sea) to Ukraine takes more than 1 hour. In addition, Ukraine can track the movement of bombers, which take about 5 hours to reach their position. The same applies to sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles.

If we are talking about ballistic threats, they can be intercepted only at the terminal stage of flight. For this purpose, the Ukrainian Air Force has air defence systems SAMP/T and MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3. However, although the ballistic missile is hit, its wreckage falls to the ground along with the wreckage of the missile interceptor, which eliminates the warhead.

Source: Defence Express