On the night of July 31, Kyiv was subjected to a missile attack by the Russian Federation – the city was shelled with Iskander-K cruise missiles.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Details of the Attack and Missile Features
According to Yuriy Ihnat, the head of the communications department of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy launched missiles from the territory of the Kursk region. This significantly reduced the flight time to the targets, complicating the work of the Ukrainian air defense. The Iskander-K missiles fly at very low altitudes, utilizing the terrain, which makes them almost undetectable by air defense systems.
“It is no less dangerous than the ballistic Iskander-M missile because the flight time is short. The missiles were launched this time from the Kursk region, which is quite close to Kyiv. This means there is very little time for detection and response,” emphasized Yuriy Ihnat.
Effectiveness of Air Defense
During this attack, the Ukrainian Air Force managed to shoot down only three out of eight Iskander-K missiles, which is less than half of the launched projectiles. In general, according to Yuriy Ihnat, the highest effectiveness of Ukrainian air defense is demonstrated in intercepting X-101 missiles, of which over two thousand have been successfully destroyed out of more than 2.5 thousand launches. The Caliber missiles are also effectively intercepted – more than half have been destroyed, while in the case of Iskander-K, this figure remains lower.
Analyzing recent shelling, experts note that Russia is increasingly using Iskander-K missiles precisely because of their difficulty in detection and short flight time. This poses an additional threat to the capital and complicates the tasks of Ukrainian air defense.