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A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet equipped with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile flies over Red Square during a rehearsal for a flypast, part of a military parade marking the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in central Moscow, Russia May 7, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Russia has deployed hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles three times over the course of what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Sunday.
The Kinzhal missiles are part of an array of new hypersonic weapons President Vladimir Putin presented in 2018 in a bellicose speech in which he said they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.
Shoigu, speaking on state television, said the missiles had proved effective in hitting high-value targets on all three occasions, hailing them as without compare and as almost impossible to take down when in flight.
"We have deployed it three times during the special military operation," Shoigu said in an interview broadcast on Rossiya 1. "And three times it showed brilliant characteristics."
Russia first used the Kinzhal system in Ukraine about a month after sending tens of thousands of troops into its neighbour's territory, striking a large weapons depot in Ukraine's western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Russia says it has deployed Kinzhal hypersonic missile three times in Ukraine
Russia has deployed hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles three times over the course of what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Sunday.
