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Olena Mukhina


Only three of eight Iskander-K missiles were shot down — but why did most slip through Kyiv’s air defenses?

The clock ran out as missiles flew low and fast from the border.
Russian missiles Iskander
A Russian Iskander-K missile launcher. Illustrative photo. Photo: Wikipedia
Only three of eight Iskander-K missiles were shot down — but why did most slip through Kyiv’s air defenses?

Only three out of eight Russian Iskander-K cruise missiles launched at Ukraine on the night of 31 July were shot down. This raised questions about why Ukraine’s air defense, usually effective against Kalibr and Kh-101 missiles, failed to destroy most of them, Defense Express reports.

The attack killed 31 civilians in Kyiv, including five children. One of them was only two years old. Despite threat of sanctions from US President Donald Trump, Moscow has no intention of stopping the war. Russia will pay any price for its aggression against Ukraine. 

Explosions in Kyiv and a major air raid alert

The key reason is the element of surprise, say the military experts from Defense Express.

“Today’s launches of ‘Iskander-K’ were carried out from Russia’s Kursk Oblasy, practically right at the border, so there was very little time to react and deploy countermeasures,” the analysis states.

The land-based Iskander launchers are harder to detect than ships launching Kalibr missiles or bombers carrying Kh-101s, since those require more flight time and are detected by intelligence before launch.

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What is known about these missiles? 

Iskander-K is a general term for cruise missiles launched from the Iskander tactical missile system. These include the 9M728 (R-500) with a range up to 500 km and the 9M729 with a range up to 1,500 km. Both have a 480 kg warhead and fly at speeds up to 900 km/h.

This year, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate announced Russia’s approximate missile production rates. Currently, Russia can produce about 300 cruise missiles per month, including 20-30 Iskander-K.