Russia's Zircon Hypersonic Missile Could Hit Kyiv in Minutes

Ukraine has said that Russia has stockpiled Zircon cruise missiles in Crimea which it could use to target Kyiv within a matter of minutes.

Part of a generation of "super weapons" that Vladimir Putin has boasted about since 2018, Russia first tested the 3M22 Zircon (Tsirkon) in January 2020 from the Russian Northern Fleet's vessel Admiral Gorshkov.

Russia has claimed the missile can reach Mach 9 (6,600 miles per hour) and hit targets at a range of up to 660 miles, although this has not been independently confirmed.

Kyiv said that Russia used the missile for the first time in its invasion on February 7 and the second time reportedly took place on March 25.

Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern military command said in March that Russia has "several dozen such missiles stockpiled at military hubs like Crimea," according to Ukrainian news outlet United 24 Media.

"They can continue sporadic terror attacks, including targeting the capital," she added.

In a follow-up post on X, United 24 shared a map showing how the Zircon, launched from Sevastopol, a hub of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, could reach Kyiv "in six minutes."

The graphic also shows the estimated times of the missiles launched from the peninsula occupied by Russia since 2014 would teach Ukrainian cities.

These include Zaporizhzhia (3.3 minutes), Odesa (2.6 minutes), Kharkiv (5.5 minutes), and Sumy (6.1 minutes).

The post with the map noted how Russia has started to use the Zircon against Ukraine actively and that they were "difficult to shoot down but not impossible."

The post added, "Not all air defenses can shoot it down, so not all of Ukraine's territory can be protected."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

The government-run Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise said markings on the debris recovered after a February 7 attack on the Ukrainian capital demonstrated Russia's first use of a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile in the war.

Ukrainian media reported that Russia's second use of the Zircon occurred on March 25, when it fired two missiles at Kyiv, which were intercepted, although this has not been officially confirmed.

However, Andrii Kulchytskyi, who heads the Scientific Research Institute told Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne that the missile "is still a long way from combat use" and that Kyiv was able to intercept them.

"It flies in the wrong direction [and] does not do the work for which it is designed," he said, according to a translation.

Kulchytskyi added that Zircon's warhead contains no more than 40 kilograms of explosives, although tests are continuing. "The warhead is small: it cannot be compared to the warheads of such missiles as (Khinzhal) Kh-101 and Kh-22."

Correction, 4/19/24, 4 a.m. ET: The headline on this article was updated to clarify that the Zircon is not a ballistic missile.