Russia’s defence ministry claims it has used hypersonic missiles for the first time ever in combat.
It said Russian forces had destroyed an underground Ukrainian missile depot in the Ivano-Frankovsk region Friday.
The use of the weapons is the latest sign Vladimir Putin is getting increasingly desperate as his military struggles to carry out his illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Details about the operation remain scarce, but Russia has previously bragged about its hypersonic weapons arsenal.
The strike is believed to have been carried out using Kinzhal – or ‘Dagger’ – missiles, which have been claimed to have a range of around 2,000 km.
Their speed and ability to fly low makes them “invisible” to most anti-missile defence systems, and they are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, experts have said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has termed the Kinzhal (Dagger) missile “an ideal weapon” that flies at 10 times the speed of sound and can overcome air-defence systems.
The Kinzhal missile was one of an array of new weapons Putin unveiled in his state-of-the-nation address in 2018.
Deliatyn, a village in the foothills of the picturesque Carpathian mountains, is located outside the city of Ivano-Frankivsk
The region of Ivano-Frankivsk shares a 50-kilometre (30-mile) long border with NATO member Romania.