MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Russian forces delivered a strike with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile against a US-made Patriot air defense system in Kiev over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

"A high-precision strike by a Kinzhal hypersonic missile system hit a US-made Patriot air defense system in Kiev," the spokesman said.

The US Department of Defense claimed on May 9 that Ukraine had shot down Russia’s latest Kinzhal hypersonic missile by a Patriot air defense system delivered to Kiev. Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder answered in the affirmative when asked to confirm that Ukraine had shot down a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile with a Patriot air defense system.

Later, a high-placed source in the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS that Kiev was engaged in wishful thinking with its claims of intercepting a Kinzhal hypersonic missile because it was invulnerable to Patriot air defense systems.

The Kinzhal is Russia’s latest system with hypersonic aero-ballistic missiles carried by specially equipped MiG-31K fighters-interceptors. The Kinzhal missile features low radar signature and high maneuverability and is designed to strike ground and naval targets.