Russia's statements about the effectiveness of Zircon were rather an act of military and political pressure to demonstrate strength and create the impression of superiority. This opinion was expressed by military expert Dmytro Snegiryov to UNN .
According to the military expert, the Russians lied when they called the Zircon invulnerable to air defense systems due to its aeroballistic trajectory.
The use of Zircon on the territory of Ukraine proved that the tactical and technical characteristics of these missiles are exaggerations. That is, all the statements of the Russian side about the hypersonic nature and the corresponding range of impact are not true. The very fact of the use of "Zircon" was used by Russia as a means of military and political pressure, saying that they would not be able to shoot down air defense systems
The expert noted that the enemy is currently firing with all types of missiles, both land-based and sea-based (the latter are launched from both surface and submarines). As for strategic bombers, Tu-95MS or Tu-160, they are usually launched from Engels or Olenya airfields.
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On March 25, Russia struck Kyiv, allegedly using Zircon missiles. The air force destroyed the targets, however, the falling debris damaged buildings. Ten people were injured in the attack.
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Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ilya Yevlash noted that the use of Zircon probably indicates the enemy's shortage of weapons.
"In general, this type of missile is anti-ship, and it is used only in certain cases, using different launchers, such as Bastion and Bal. However, we can say that if they had, for example, enough of another type of missile - Kalibr, Iskander, other missiles - they would have used them," Yevlash said.
"The Russians have used Zircon to strike Ukrainian cities before, in particular, during the attack on February 7 this year.
The fact that the 3M22 Zircon missile was used at that time was confirmed by experts from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise. It was then established that this missile had been assembled recently. The experts also found that missile did not meet the characteristics stated in open sources.
According to open sources, the 3M22 Zircon is an anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile that was adopted in January 2023. It has the following characteristics declared by the enemy: range - 600-1500 km, speed up to Mach 8-9, warhead weight about 300-400 kg, length 8-10 m. The actual speed of the missile is no more than 2,500 kilometers.
"The impact factors do not yet correspond to the stated ones. The assembly is Russian: in some places, numbers are still laser written, and somewhere they are scratched out with nails. Some boards are hand-assembled.
There are some new things in some components. The rest is all the same: standard engines, metal quality, component parts are nothing special, nothing revolutionary," said Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of KFI at the time.