 Ukrainian Army shoot down Russian hypersonic missile Zircon for the first time. During the last missile attack on Kiev, Russia tried to use its new hypersonic missile ZM-22 Zircon, which has not yet been officially adopted for service, but it was shot down. This was reported by Defence Express. One of the pieces of debris that fell in the Neprovsky neighbourhood was marked 3M-22, which corresponds exactly to this missile. Since it is unlikely that the power line was the target of the Zircon, it was shot down, the publication believes. Meanwhile, the Air Force Command report lists only cruise missiles such as the KH555, stroke 101 and caliber among the intercepted missiles. According to Defence Express' own sources, the fragmentation of the missile is quite high, which makes its identification much more difficult as the ZM-22 Zircon has not been publicly demonstrated. However, it has become known that yesterday's debris matches the wreckage of another unidentified missile used by the Russians on the 29th of December 2023 during another massive missile attack, fragments of which were found in Zaporizia. Of the carriers of this missile, which was designed to be launched from ships and submarines, only the frigate admiral Goshkov and the nuclear submarine K560 Severodvinsk are known to be far beyond their launch range in Ukraine. Therefore, the enemy could most likely use the bastion complex to launch them. According to open sources, the 3M22 Zircon is a promising hypersonic air-launched anti-ship cruise missile under development and testing in Russia. The missile is being manufactured in Rootov, Moscow region. In January 2022, the first test of the Zircon missile took place. It was launched from the admiral Goshkov frigate. It hit a coastal target at a distance of 500 kilometres. The characteristics of the missile are not disclosed, but some parameters are given. Range almost up to 1500 kilometres, flight altitude 30 to 40 kilometres, flight speed up to Mach 8 to 9. It is possible that the Zircon is a two-stage missile with the first stage powered by a solid fuel rocket engine and the second stage by a direct-flow air jet engine.