Ukraine says 18 missiles aimed at Kyiv shot down

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 18 missiles aimed at Kyiv on Tuesday, including six hypersonic missiles, officials said.

Ukraine intercepted nine Kalibr cruise missiles launched from ships in the Black Sea and three land-based missiles, said Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, on Telegram.

Russia also launched Iranian-made Shahed attack drones and conducted aerial reconnaissance using operational-tactical drones in Tuesday’s bombardment, Zaluzhnyi added.

“It was exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time,” Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on Telegram.

It is the eighth time this month Russia has targeted the Ukrainian capital, according to The Associated Press.

This is only the second time Ukraine has managed to shoot down the Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which travel at 10 times the speed of sound and represent one of Moscow’s most sophisticated weapons, Reuters noted. It had been unclear whether the U.S. Patriot air defense system could intercept those missiles.