The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported the destruction of a Bastion launcher along with several Zircon hypersonic missiles early on Tuesday, March 24.
According to a Telegram statement, fighters from the Department of Unmanned Systems tracked a column of Bastion-M launchers near the village of Furmanovka in occupied Crimea as it advanced toward firing positions.
“As a result of accurate strikes by reconnaissance units, one of the launchers and two expensive Zircon missiles were destroyed, and another Bastion was damaged,” the HUR said.
Drone footage lasting about a minute and a half - whose time and location Kyiv Post could not independently verify - appears to show the movement of the launcher column before the strike and the moment of impact.
Seven Russian servicemen were reportedly killed or wounded in the attack, the report added.
The agency added that Russian forces have been using Zircon missiles to strike civilian areas, particularly in southern, western, and eastern regions of Ukraine.
“The aggressor’s plans to attack peaceful cities were thwarted tonight,” the statement said.
The Zircon (3M22) is a sea-based hypersonic cruise missile designed to hit surface targets such as ships and aircraft carrier groups, as well as some ground targets. It can be launched from ships, submarines, and land-based systems.
Development of the missile began in the early 2010s, and it officially entered service in 2023. It is reportedly capable of speeds up to Mach 8-9 (around 9,000-11,000 km/h) and can strike targets at ranges of approximately 400 to 1,000 km or more.
Earlier, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces announced Ukraine struck a launcher of the Bastion coastal missile system and multiple Russian command and troop concentration sites overnight into Tuesday, March 24.
According to the statement, the Bastion system launcher was hit near Aktachi in Crimea. The agency did not disclose any further details of the operation.
Additional strikes targeted areas where Russian forces were concentrated in occupied portions of three eastern regions: near Velyka Novosilka (Donetsk region), Khoroshe (Luhansk region) and Novozlatopil (Zaporizhzhia region).
Ukrainian forces also struck a Russian repair unit in Novozlatopil and a drone command post near Velyka Novosilka, according to the statement.
The extent of the damage and Russian losses are being assessed.
On Monday Ukraine struck multiple Russian air defense systems, radar installations and logistics depots. The General Staff said that a Tor surface-to-air missile system in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region and a Tunguska air defense system in Russia’s Bryansk region were among the targets destroyed.
Although the model of the Tor system was not disclosed, the estimated cost of a Tor-M1 air defense system – which entered service in 1991 as an improved version of the 1986 original – is roughly $25 million.