The Russian occupiers launched eight Iskander-K cruise missiles at Kyiv on the night of July 31, of which only three were shot down. The enemy uses the terrain features and ultra-low altitudes to its advantage.
Points of attention
- The Russian military launched Iskander-K cruise missiles and over 300 drones in a night attack on Kyiv, utilizing terrain features and ultra-low altitudes to their advantage.
- Iskander-K ground-based missiles pose a significant threat due to their low altitudes and approach speeds, making them challenging to detect by aircraft.
- Kh-101 and Caliber missiles proved to be the most effective in shooting down, with Iskander-K ranking third in terms of efficiency according to the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russia began to strike Ukraine with rocket launchers
This was stated during the telethon by Yuriy Ignat, head of the communications department of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to him, the enemy launched 8 Iskander-K cruise missiles and over 300 drones. Ukraine was attacked from different directions, almost all of them flew towards the capital.
It is necessary to understand that all missiles are dangerous. There are missiles that are shot down with a higher efficiency indicator, some with a lower one. Today, Kyiv was attacked with ground-based cruise missiles "Iskander-K". Also, some of the most popular missiles that Russia is firing at are the Kh-101 and "Calibr". These are the same missiles in class, but there are specifics regarding their shooting down.
Yuri Ignat
Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian SSR
He explained that the best indicators in terms of shooting down (over half of them were shot down during the war) are the Kh-101 and Caliber missiles, with the Iskander-K in third place. The peculiarity of the Iskander-K is that it is no less dangerous than the Iskander-M ballistic missile because the approach time is short, Ignat explained. In particular, this time the Russians launched the missiles from the Kursk region, which is not far from Kyiv.
That is, there is quite a bit of time for detection and response... Another feature that the Russians use is ultra-low altitudes and terrain. The missile is pressed low to the ground and becomes barely noticeable to our air defense. Thus, the enemy is using these missiles not for the first time. And today, only three out of 8 managed to hit.
The military added that the air alert began yesterday at approximately 6:00 p.m., when the enemy began launching "shaheeds" over Ukraine — drones flew in from different directions. It was possible to destroy and neutralize almost 290 UAVs. According to Ignat, the occupiers may have also used jet "shaheeds."
Yesterday, 8 such UAVs were recorded from the northern direction. Probably today there were also such among other drones. According to the flight parameters, jet drones are displayed as cruise missiles, because their speed can be over 500 km/h. Accordingly, such targets are not capable of intercepting all the means that we use.
