Russia launches Kinzhal missiles on young Ukrainian pilots

On 11 August, Russia launched four Kinzhal missiles on an airfield in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, targeting young Ukrainian pilots set to start training to operate modern Western planes.

Source: Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, on the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote from Ihnat: "This is another terrorist attack using Kh-47 missiles, which the Russians claim always hit their targets. A child was killed today after one of the missiles hit a residential neighbourhood.

Those missiles once again targeted military airfields, which have been the target of enemy attacks for the past several months. The Starokostiantyniv airfield [in Khmelnytskyi Oblast - ed.] is struggling with the aftermath of the Russian occupiers’ attacks the most.

This time [Russia] targeted Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, our youth – our young pilots who are about to start training. These young pilots will be training using a new curriculum, and we know that the UK and other countries will train them to operate new types of planes, Western equipment, and first and foremost F-16 [fighter jets].

The enemy wanted to strike our young people, thus cutting off the possibility of future rearmament with the latest Western models of equipment. As we see, these attacks are not successful."

Details: One of the Kh-47 missiles was shot down in Kyiv Oblast, which has appropriate air defence capabilities, and the remaining three missiles struck Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, with one hitting a residential building.

Ihnat said that early reports indicate that all four missiles targeted Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

He added that Russia continues failing to achieve its goals despite its extensive spending on missiles.

Background:

• Around 10:00 on 11 August, Russia deployed MiG-31K jets to launch four Kh-47 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles.
• One Kh-47 missile was shot down in Kyiv Oblast, while the other three struck an area near an airfield in Ukraine’s Prykarpattia region, situated to the east of the Carpathian mountains. Civilian infrastructure facilities were hit, several civilians were injured, and a child was killed after one of the missiles hit a residential neighbourhood.
• Fragments of the downed missile crashed in two Kyiv districts.

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