Russian Zircon missiles do not adequately perform in combat – Kyiv Forensic Expertise Institute

Kyiv Forensic Expertise Institute stated that the long-range Zircon missiles do not fulfill the defined combat mission.

They "fly in the wrong direction," as stated by the expert Andrii Kulchytskyi.

"This missile does not fulfill its combat mission. Everything that is charged, all the characteristics of "super" and "hyper" are just words, but in reality, the missile is still a long way from being used in combat. It flies in the wrong direction, does not do the job for which it is designed."

Ukrainian air defense can shoot these missiles down, as one of the fragments hit on March 25 clearly shows that it was downed by the Patriot system.

The expert also said the missile warhead contains no more than 40 kilograms of explosives.

"We are still analyzing, we will determine what kind of substance is there. But the warhead is small: it does not compare to the warheads of missiles such as Kh-101 and Kh-22."

The Air Force spokesman Illia Yevlash confirmed that Ukrainian forces have the necessary means to down Russian anti-ship hypersonic missiles ZM22 Zircon.

On February 7, Russian forces launched various types of cruise missiles and attack drones at Ukraine, and about 20 missiles were shot down near and over Kyiv.

Experts from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute stated that this was the first time Russia had used the Zircon against Ukraine.