Russia claims it destroyed a Ukrainian
ammunitions depot with hypersonic missiles capable of flying five to 25 times
the speed of sound.
If confirmed, it would mark a dramatic
escalation of Russia's brutal campaign to crush the pro-Western government in
Kyiv and drag the country back into Moscow’s orbit.
But so far, Pentagon officials and military
experts say, what Russia has unleashed appears to be hypersonic hype about a
potentially devastating weapon.
“It’s a bit of a head-scratcher to be honest
with you,” a Pentagon official told NBC News on Monday. “If it’s true, why
would you need a hypersonic missile fired from not that far away to hit a
building?”
Military experts said the only reason Russian
President Vladimir Putin would resort to using this kind of weaponry against
the outgunned Ukrainians at this point would be to score propaganda points.
“Russia doesn’t have many of them and,
frankly, doesn’t need to use them in this conflict,” said Mark Cancian of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. “They’re very, very fast and designed to
evade missile defenses.”
But, he said, “Ukraine doesn’t really have
missile defenses.”
If Russia did fire such a weapon, it would be
more for propaganda value to let Ukraine and the rest of the world know
"they’ve got them and will use them,” he said.
Earlier, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
refused to “confirm or dispute” Moscow’s assertion that it destroyed an
underground warehouse in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine with
hypersonic missiles call Kinzhals.