Ukraine's air defence has destroyed 33 Russian strategic missiles Kh-555 and Kh-101 with a maximum launch range of 5,500 km in a few hours

The Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to repel an attack by Russian strategic cruise missiles Kh-101 and Kh-555 on 26 July. The strike was carried out in the afternoon by bombers that were located near the Caspian Sea.

Here's What We Know

Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers are based at an airfield near the border with Finland. To perform launches, eight aircraft made a flight to the Caspian Sea lasting several hours.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Tu-95MS launched 36 cruise missiles Kh-101 and Kh-555 with a maximum launch range of 5,500 kilometres and 2,000 kilometres respectively. The missiles entered the airspace in the south-east of the country. They constantly changed direction and sometimes just flew in circles.

Anti-aircraft missile units, mobile firing groups, fighter jets and other components of the air defence system were able to destroy 33 of the 36 Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles. The effectiveness was almost 92 per cent. Earlier in the day, the Defence Forces had shot down three Kalibr missiles.

Two hours after the Kh-101 and Kh-555 launches, Russia struck with four Kh-47M2 aeroballistic/hypersonic missiles in the direction of Khmelnitsky region. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian air defences were unable to intercept any of the aerial targets, as only MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, of which Ukraine has only two, can do so.

Source: @kpszsu