Russia says its used advanced hypersonic missiles in Ukraine for the first time ever

Moscow: Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday it had destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk region using hypersonic missiles.

Russia has never before admitted using the high-precision weapon in combat, and state news agency RIA Novosti said it was the first use of the Kinzhal hypersonic weapons during the conflict in pro-Western Ukraine.

Kinzhal has been termed as a game-changer as Russia was testing it. Now that it claims to have used it in the war going on for the past few weeks, experts are closely watching whether the deployment of Kinzhal brings a new turn in the conflict.

"The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region", the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment when reached by AFP.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has termed the Kinzhal (Dagger) missile "an ideal weapon" that flies at 10 times the speed of sound and can overcome air-defence systems.

The Kinzhal missile was one of an array of new weapons Putin unveiled in his state-of-the-nation address in 2018.

Deliatyn, a village in the foothills of the picturesque Carpathian mountains, is located outside the city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

The region of Ivano-Frankivsk shares a 50-kilometre (30-mile) long border with NATO member Romania.