Russia may strike Ukraine in two waves: What we know

Russian forces may be deploying Zircon hypersonic missiles for follow-up strikes on Ukrainian cities, waiting for fires to break out at initial impact sites, aviation expert and analyst Kostiantyn Kryvolap said on Kyiv24.

He explained that anti-ship missiles are inherently designed to engage maritime targets, where they detect metallic structures against the water’s surface. However, targeting becomes more challenging in urban environments, prompting Russian forces to adopt «double-tap» tactics.

To establish an initial reference point, the Russian military may use other strike assets, including Shahed drones or Iskander-M ballistic missiles.

The analyst cited a strike on Dnipro as an example, where a follow-up attack killed the head of a State Emergency Service rescue unit. The expert stressed that the enemy carried out this specific secondary strike using a Zircon missile.

«This indicates that once a fire is already burning at the site and a high-contrast target emerges, the enemy effectively leverages this missile for a precision secondary hit. The initial strike could be a Shahed or ballistic assets like the Iskander-M, and when everything is ablaze, the Zircon is deployed and sees everything. This is where its primary threat lies,» he noted.