Today's Massive Attack on Ukraine Cost Russia Over $1.2 Billion

Russia’s massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine on Friday cost at least $1.273 billion, according to an analysis by Ekonomichna Pravda.

The bulk of the missiles fired by the Russian armed forces were X-101s, each one costing around $13 million.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 90 were launched on Friday at a total cost of $1.17 billion.

Russia also fired:

• 5 X-47M2 Kinzhal aerial ballistic missiles which cost upwards of $10 million each, adding another $50 million to the total
• 8 X-22/X-32 cruise missiles, each of which costs about $1 million
• 14 Iskander-M ballistic missiles costing $3 million
• 4 X-31P anti-radar missiles and one X-59 missile, which cost $0.5 million each
• 36 Iranian Shahed-136/131 strike drones in the attack, each of which cost around $20 thousand to $50 thousand.

Thus, according to the calculations of Ekonomichna Pravda, the attack cost Russia $1,273,220,000.

Of course, Ukraine paid a far higher price – so far 26 people are known to have been killed and more than 130 injured.

In March 2020, Russia set aside $135.7 million to build a new state-of-the-art hospital – it could build nearly 10 more for the money spent on today's attacks.

Of the missiles fired in the attack, the X-22 is posing a particular problem for Ukrainian air defenses.

Since the launch of the full-scale invasion, Russian forces have fired around 300 X-22 missiles at Ukraine, none of which have been intercepted and shot down, a Kyiv official said on Friday.

Speaking just hours after a massive attack on cities across Ukraine, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said this and a modified version of the missile were likely some of those that made it past air defenses today.

“The X-22 missile flies at a speed of four thousand kilometers per hour, it enters its target mostly along a ballistic trajectory, so special means are needed to intercept it,” he told national television.

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In 2000, Ukraine transferred 386 X-22 missiles to Russia as an installment against the gas debt.

These have since been used to target Ukrainian cities in attacks like the one this morning.