Impossible to Shoot Down Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile with PATRIOT System: Russian MoD

Russia has denied reports that its kinzhal hypersonic missile was shot down by the U.S. PATRIOT anti missile system in Ukraine at the end of last week.
The flight speed of the Kinzhal missile exceeds by several Mach the maximum combat speeds of anti-aircraft missile systems' supplied by the West to Kyiv, including the PATRIOT, TASS reported Thursday quoting a high-ranking source in the Russian Defense Ministry.
"Kyiv is trying to pass off wishful thinking with statements about the alleged interception of the Kinzhal missile, it is impossible to intercept it with the PATRIOT anti-aircraft missile system," the source said.
"In addition, the anti-missile maneuver carried out by Kinzhal in the final flight segment and the almost vertical approach to the target excludes the interception of this weapon by anti-aircraft missile systems," he stressed.

The source said that Kyiv regularly reports of allegedly intercepting Russian missiles to justify the overexpenditure of ammunition supplied by the West for air defense systems.

"The number of interceptions is two to three times more than the missiles we launch. They do this to justify the overexpenditure of the ammunition of Western air defense systems, stretching their effectiveness," he said.
Various western media quoting Pentagon sources said last week that a Ukraine-operated PATRIOT air defense system had shot down a kinzhal hypersonic missile over Ukraine. Images of fragments of the down kinzhal were also shown in some media.