Russia has scrambled a MiG-31 into the sky and launched "Kinzhal" missiles at Ukraine

The Russian army has launched MiG-31 fighters into the air, which are carriers of aeroballistic "Kinzhal" missiles. Missile launches occurred half an hour after the aircraft took off.

This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Takeoff of a MiG-31K from the ’Savasleyka’ airfield has been recorded," the military reported at 06:02.

Launches of "Kinzhal" missiles have been recorded through the Sumy region in the direction of the Kyiv region.

At 06:31, the missiles are moving further towards the Zhytomyr region in the direction of the Lviv region.

It should be noted that the missile launches occurred 30 minutes after the MiG-31 took off.

The X-47M2 "Kinzhal" (NATO code AS-24 Killjoy) is a Russian aeroballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

After successful tests, the system was adopted into service and has been on combat duty at airfields of the Southern Military District since December 1, 2017.

It is assumed that the missile is based on the 9K720 "Iskander-M." It is often referred to as a hypersonic missile system, though this definition is not entirely accurate.

Despite the fact that many ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speeds at certain stages of flight, the "Kinzhal" is neither a hypersonic glider nor a hypersonic cruise missile.

The MiG-31K fighter can carry and launch one missile and strike targets at a range of up to 2000 km.

On Tu-22M3 carriers, it is possible to mount four "Kinzhals" - in this configuration, the claimed flight range allegedly exceeds 3000 km.

The maximum speed of the system is indicated as up to 4080 m/s (14,688 km/h). Hypersonic speed is achieved at an altitude of about 20 km, and the warhead weight is 500 kg.