Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Air Force Command of Ukraine, said they have "no capabilities to counter these weapons." The use of such a wide and unpredictable array of weaponry seemingly marks a shift in the Kremlin's strategy. However, six of the strikes involved Kinzhal ballistic missiles that eluded Kyiv's air defenses, the military said. A rare type of missile: Russia launched a total of 84 missiles over the last 24 hours, and Ukraine's air defenses intercepted 34 of them, the Ukrainian military said.Kyiv dismissed Moscow's claim the overnight assault on "peaceful cities and villages of Ukraine" was retaliatory. Russian security officials claimed a small Ukrainian armed group had crossed into Russia's Bryansk region last week. Russia's narrative: The Russian Ministry of Defense said the attack was retaliation for what the ministry called "terrorist actions" organized by Kyiv.President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his nightly address, said six people were killed directly from missile strikes, describing it as a " difficult night" in Ukraine. Some of the strikes used advanced missiles that Ukrainian forces cannot shoot down. Wave of Russian strikes: At least 11 people are dead and more than 20 injured following a barrage of Russian strikes against critical infrastructure across Ukraine, according to regional authorities.The partnership is not only further destabilizing Ukraine, but it could also threaten Iran's neighbors in the Middle East, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last month.ĬNN has reached out to the Russian embassy in Washington and the Iranian UN mission for comment. The coordination is yet another example of Moscow's growing defense partnership with Tehran, which has intensified over the last year as Russia has become increasingly desperate for external military support for its war against Ukraine.
The Iranians also intercepted a US-made drone in 2011, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 "Sentinel," and reverse-engineered it to create a new drone that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018 before being shot down. It's not clear if Iran has successfully reverse-engineered any US weapons taken in Ukraine, but Tehran has proven highly adept at developing weapons systems based on US equipment seized in the past.Ī key weapon in Iran's inventory, the Toophan anti-tank guided missile, was reverse engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile in the 1970s. Still, US officials acknowledge that the issue is difficult to track. US officials don't believe that the issue is widespread or systematic, and the Ukrainian military has made it a habit since the beginning of the war to report to the Pentagon any losses of US-provided equipment to Russian forces, officials said.
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