The massive missile attack on January 14, 2022, which involved Kh-101/Kh-555, Kh-22 air-based cruise missiles, Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles, and Kh-59 guided air missiles, was preceded by a morning missile attack on Kyiv with the use of S-400 (S-300) anti-aircraft guided missiles. On January 14 Facebook account of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Zaluzhnyi announced this. Now it became known how such an attack became possible and what missiles were used by russian terrorists. This is reported by Defense Express.

Russian terrorist forces have a huge stockpile of guided anti-aircraft missiles for the S-300 and S-400 complexes. It is about 8,000 rockets at the start of a full-scale invasion. Unfortunately, as residents of Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipro and other cities close to the front line know, the russians actively use such missiles for terrorist acts against peaceful Ukrainian cities. In the case of the use of anti-aircraft missiles against ground targets at a long range, as a result of limiting the capabilities of the radar guidance, there is no question of any accuracy – this is clearly a terrorist act with the aim of intimidation.

But until January 14, 2022, Kyiv did not suffer from such attacks. First of all, because the standard 5B55 anti-aircraft missiles for the S-300 complexes have a range of 75-100 km to hit air targets, that is, such missiles simply do not reach the capital from the territory of Belarus.

Another thing is the 48N6DM rocket for the S-400 complexes. They have a range of up to 250 km against air targets and also a warhead weighing 180 kg with an increased number of elements of destruction – a weapon specifically for terrorists. Unfortunately, according to information from Defense Express, fragments of just such a missile were found in Kyiv on January 14.

The likely launch area for the 48N6DM with the S-400 is the Belarusian Zyabrovka airfield near Gomel, 20 km from the Ukrainian border. The proven launch range of the 48N6DM when used as a surface-to-surface missile is from 230 km. That is, when used from the territory of Belarus, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk and Lviv may come under fire, again not targeted, but purely terrorist.

Unfortunately, the speed of 48N6DM missiles is 2,500 m/s (9,000 km/h), that is, the distance from the launch site to Kyiv will be covered by such a missile in just 90 seconds, which may not even be enough to determine the start and announce an air alarm, as happened on the 14th of January. Anti-aircraft missiles of the S-300 and S-400 complexes, when used in the “ground-to-ground” mode, fly along a ballistic trajectory, and given their speed, the Air Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have no means of combating this threat. And, most likely, they will not appear in our country soon, because this is not about air defense, but about anti-missile defense, and this is a completely different complexity of the systems themselves, their cost and the difficulty of integrating such means into the general air defense/anti-missile system.

The only thing that is even a little reassuring is that russia has much (most likely by two orders of magnitude) fewer long-range 48N6DM missiles than the usual 5B55. And the beginning of their use indicates a reduction in stocks of other, more accurate means of defeat.

In any case, Mezha once again urges readers not to ignore air alarm signals and not to be in open areas during attacks. And the terrorists will be punished in the end, we have no doubt about that. Everything will be Ukraine!