Russian squadron that launched Kinzhal missile in Ukraine gets big reward

TASS news agency quoted an unnamed military source as saying: "The Su-34 aircraft used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile in a special military operation. The first crew to successfully complete this mission was awarded a national award."

So far, Moscow has said little about the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, while the Ukrainian military accuses Russia of using them regularly.

Phi đội Nga phóng tên lửa Kinzhal tại Ukraine được thưởng lớn - Ảnh 1.

Debris of the Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missile after it was shot down by Ukraine in May. Photo: Reuters

TASS did not say when Russia first used the Kinzhal missiles in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said only that the missiles were deployed against Ukrainian targets in March.

Kinzhal is one of six "next-generation" weapons revealed by President Vladimir Putin in a speech in March 2018.

In a related development, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had launched drone attacks on Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine in the west, from the night of September 3 to the morning of September 4 (local time). Russian forces shot down two drones in the early morning of September 4 (local time).

Earlier, Kursk Region Governor Roman Starovoit said on September 3 that debris from a downed drone caused a fire at a non-residential building in Kurchatov City.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia carried out overnight air strikes on Izmail, one of Ukraine's major grain export ports.

The Ukrainian Air Force called on residents of the port of Izmail, one of Ukraine's two major grain export ports on the Danube River in the Odessa region, to seek shelter early on September 4 (local time).

The airstrike came just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan were scheduled to meet.

Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan will meet on 4 September in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations seek to revive a grain export deal with Ukraine to ease the global food crisis.

Russia abandoned the deal in July 2023, a year after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, and has since launched regular attacks on ports on the Danube River, Ukraine’s main grain export route.

The September 4 attack followed a September 3 Russian attack on the Danube port of Reni, which damaged the port's infrastructure and injured at least two people.

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