Russia Strikes Back at Ukraine with Missile Attacks Following 'Tanker Hit' Incident

Russia, whose oil tanker was hit by an attack from the Ukrainian military, retaliated by conducting airstrikes across Ukraine using hypersonic missiles.

Photo released by Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, via Telegram showing Russian cruise missiles airstriking Ukrainian territory.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 5th (local time), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in a nighttime speech that Russia attacked the southern Zaporizhzhia and western Khmelnytskyi regions of Ukraine with the hypersonic missile "Kinzhal" and the cruise missile "Kalibr," CNN reported. President Zelenskyy explained that the Zaporizhzhia attack appeared to target Motor Sich, a company that manufactures aircraft engines, and that some missiles were intercepted by air defense systems. No specific details regarding casualties were disclosed.

Meanwhile, Russia claims that the Kinzhal, a hypersonic missile flying at over five times the speed of sound, cannot be intercepted by existing defense systems. Ukraine also partially acknowledges the difficulty in defending against the Kinzhal, despite operating Patriot missile defense systems provided by the United States.

This Russian attack is interpreted as retaliation for Ukraine's attack on a Russian oil tanker. Around 11:20 p.m. the previous day, the Ukrainian military used a remotely controlled drone boat to attack the Russian oil tanker SIG south of the Kerch Strait near the Crimean Peninsula. As a result, the SIG sustained damage such as a hole at the waterline near the engine room. There were no reported fatalities.

Vasyl Maliuk, head of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), claimed that the attacks on Russian vessels were legal as they occurred within Ukrainian territorial waters. In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova declared in a statement on the 5th that "such barbaric acts cannot be justified," warning that "they will not go unanswered, and those who organized them will be punished." Zakharova also emphasized that the attack was illegal, stating it "aimed to kill unarmed civilians."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.