The Pentagon is neither confirming nor denying claims made by Russia that it fired a hypersonic missile at a Ukrainian target over the weekend, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday.
“We’re not able to refute it, but we can’t independently confirm it either. It’s not entirely clear. What we would assess is it’s certainly possible,” the official told reporters.
If true, the use of the missile indicates a willingness by the Russians to step up their use of more destructive weapons.
The Kremlin on Saturday said it struck a Ukrainian weapons storage facility with a hypersonic missile, sharing a video that shows a missile striking and destroying a building.
Moscow said the strike took place on Friday on a “large underground storage facility for missiles and aviation ammunition” in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
From a military perspective, however, the strike makes little sense given the target, according to the defense official.
“It’s a bit of a head scratcher, to be honest with you, because it’s not exactly clear why — if it’s true — why you would need a hypersonic missile fired from not that far away to hit a building,” they said.
One explanation could be the Russian forces are running low on precision guided munitions typically used, “and feel like they need to tap into that resource.” Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, but U.S. intelligence has seen the offensive stall amid stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces and difficulties with supplies.
Moscow also might be trying to send a message to the West and to Ukraine that they have the capability and could use it if needed in order to gain some leverage at the negotiating table, the official added.
“But … from a military perspective, if it was a hypersonic missile, there’s not a whole lot of practicality about it,” they said.
–Updated at 12:06 p.m.