- Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine on Friday.
- Ukraine said five Kh-22 missiles were launched among the barrage.
Russia launched one its biggest strikes of the war on Friday, mainly targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure across major cities with a variety of missiles and drones.
Ukraine said the attack included the use of Russia's Kh-22 anti-ship missile, among others, and destroyed a residential area. It's unclear what specific missile hit the neighborhood, but the strike highlights the reckless nature of these attacks.
Using the Kh-22 in attacks poses an unnecessary threat to civilians given that the missile is wildly inaccurate when fired at land targets. Despite the risk of the missile hitting unintentional targets, Russia has used it throughout the war with no regard for potential civilian casualties and massive collateral damage.
On Friday, Ukraine reported a large and widespread strike from Russia, targeting most major cities, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Odessa. Over 150 missiles and drones largely hit critical energy facilities, leaving over one million households without electricity and severely damaging energy and power grids.
Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine's Air Force, highlighted some of the assets used in the attack, including 63 Shahed one -way attack drones, Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, and Kh-22 "carrier killer" missiles.
Photos of the widespread effects of the strikes spread across X in the aftermath, showing significant damage and destruction in residential areas. One photo from Zaporizhzhia showed an area that, as former Ukrainian political advisor Anton Gerashchenko said, "used to be homes."
Zaporizhzhia.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 22, 2024
Yesterday, these used to be homes.
: TSN https://t.co/o9mevBcmQ1 pic.twitter.com/1rJ3HL86od
Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian governor of Zaporizhzhia, posted on Telegram that the damage was caused by just two missiles out of the many fired in the attack. Four houses were completely destroyed, and 40 more were damaged, he said.
Open-source intelligence accounts suggested the area had been destroyed by a Kh-22, noting that the missile, originally designed to sink aircraft carriers, had been used in the strike on the neighborhood. Business Insider is unable to independently verify the claim.
The Kh-22 Storm, which NATO calls the AS-4 Kitchen, is a Soviet-era anti-ship missile. With a warhead weighing over 2,000 pounds, the Kh-22 is quite large, and known for being incredibly inaccurate when used against fixed, land-based targets because its radar can't discriminate between targets like it can at sea.
When using it this way, there is a high potential for civilian casualties and unnecessary damage. For Russia though, the value of using the Kh-22 is that it is hard to intercept and less valuable than some of Russia's other munitions.
Ukraine said it was able to intercept roughly 92 drones and missiles from the attack but all of the Kh-22s made it through its defenses.
The Kh-22 has often been referred to as a "carrier killer," originally designed to threaten and destroy NATO aircraft carriers during the Cold War.
Other instances of the Kh-22's use in the war have resulted in scenes similar to those from Friday's attack. In January 2023, a Kh-22 slammed into a residential structure in Dnipro, killing and wounding scores of people. In July of that same year, Russia repeatedly hammered Odessa with Kh-22s, causing destruction.
And in June 2022, roughly a year earlier, a Kh-22 wrecked a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, killing at least 20 and injuring nearly 60 others.