Russia's missile strike on Kyiv demonstrates Ukraine's weak air defenses

In the early hours of April 24, Russia's Armed Forces carried out a combined strike on targets in Ukraine. The attack has become one of the most largest ones since the beginning of the special operation.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha confirmed the strike.

"Russia has launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine (…) [Moscow] is only interested in prolonging the conflict. Weakness and concessions will not stop it," he said.

Russian missiles hit Kyiv and other cities

A series of explosions rocked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported the activation of air defense systems. Shortly before that, an air raid alert was issued across the entire country.

The attack was called one of the most intense ones this year.

Today's strike with Kalibr missiles was indicative. The attack has clearly demonstrated that Ukraine's air defenses are weak even deep in the country. The Russian forces have thus used most vulnerable cruise missiles from the arsenal to obliterate, among other things, stockpiles of scarce Western anti-aircraft missiles.

Military analyst Semyon Pegov said on his WarGonzo Telegram channel that the Russian forces launched the largest strike to date against targets in the Ukrainian capital, hitting railway infrastructure in Kyiv.

In Kharkiv, missiles and drones targeted the Malyshev Transport Engineering Plant and the local airport.

Russian missiles also hit the Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Kupiansk was also targeted.

The Russian forces appeared to have changed tactics in this night assault. According to Pegov, the strike was a combined operation. First, they launched at least 40 Geran drones in waves at Kyiv, indicating a new approach by the Russian military. About an hour later, ballistic missiles were fired at the capital. Air raid sirens continued for several hours, with fires breaking out in different districts of the city. The full extent of the damage is not yet known.

The Geran drones also struck infrastructure in Odesa. According to Mykolaiv resistance coordinator Serhiy Lebedev, the target was port infrastructure housing fuel and grain terminals.

According to Military Observer Telegram channel , citing Ukrainian military sources, the attack also involved Iskander-M ballistic missiles, air-launched Kh-101 cruise missiles, and Iskander-K cruise missiles — none of which were intercepted by Ukraine's air defense systems.

In addition, the Ukrainian forces reported the use of Russian sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles and guided Kh-59/Kh-69 air-launched missiles.

Details

The Novator Kalibr (Калибр, caliber), also referred to as 3M54-1 Kalibr, 3M14 Biryuza (Бирюза, turquoise), (NATO reporting name SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A) is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by NPO Novator (OKB-8). It first saw service in 1994. There are ship-launched, submarine-launched and air-launched versions of the missile, and variants for anti-ship, and land attack use. Some versions have a second propulsion stage that initiates a supersonic sprint in the terminal approach to the target, reducing the time that air defense systems have to react, while subsonic versions have greater range than the supersonic variants. The missile can carry a warhead weighing up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb).