Russia fired advanced hypersonic missile for first time, claims Ukraine

Kiev, Feb 13: Ukraine has claimed it has evidence that Russia fired an advanced hypersonic missile -- one that experts say is almost impossible to shoot down -- for the first time in the almost two-year-old war, a media report said.

The government-run Kiev Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise said in a Telegram post that debris recovered after a February 7 attack on the Ukrainian capital pointed to the use of a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile by the Russian military, CNN reported.

“Markings on the parts and fragments, the identification of components and parts, and the features of the relevant type of weapon” point to the first-ever use of the Zircon in combat, said the institute, which is part of Ukraine’s Justice Ministry, the report said.

The Telegram post was accompanied by a video showing dozens of pieces of debris believed to be from the new missile.