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FACT CHECK: Post Claims American-Made Missile Hit The Kyiv Children’s Hospital

post Share with X They claim that a US-made air defense missile hit a children's hospital in Kiev.

Verdict: Misleading

Experts and observers have said the missile was likely Russian-made, and the Ukrainian government said a Russian cruise missile had hit the hospital.

Fact check:

On July 8, a missile reportedly landed at a children's hospital in Kiev. ReutersUkraine said the missiles were Russian-made, according to the media.

Social media users claim that the missiles are American, with one writing: “A US Patriot air defense missile fired by Ukraine hit a children's hospital in Kiev this morning. Of course, they are blaming Russia again…”

This claim is misleading: Reuters reports that Check Your Fact could not state for certain what type of missile struck the hospital, but the Ukrainian Security Service said the missile was a KH-101.

The KH-101 is an air-launched cruise missile used by Russia. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Missile Threat ProjectThe KH-101 is described as follows: [a] The stealth missiles, the Kh-101/-102, are designed to destroy air defense systems by flying at low altitudes along the terrain to evade radar systems.”

Bellingcat, an open source analysis and research group, said: “Analysis conducted by Bellingcat using social media footage and a 3D model of the missile indicates that this munition Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.”

BILD journalist Julian Röpke wrote in an X-post on July 8 that images taken before the collision showed “[t]This is a typical KH-101 shape.

“The typical shape of the Kh-101 is clearly visible in this image taken one second before it struck the children's hospital,” Roepke tweeted. (Related: Fact-checking claims about level of destruction in Gaza)

Check your facts too examination Footage of a Russian Tu-160 bomber firing a KH-101 in 2015. Screenshots show the missile is similar in shape to the one that struck the hospital.

Screenshots/Russian Mod

Jet Goldsmith, editor-in-chief of the Open Source Information website Unconventional research“The projectiles were fired by Russian forces as part of a widespread stand-off missile barrage aimed at positions across Ukraine, a common tactic used by Russian forces in the ongoing Ukraine conflict,” he told Check Your Facts in an email.

“Still and ground imagery from the attack readily identifies the munition as a Russian-made Kh-101 cruise missile. This is evident from several of the missile's visual components, particularly its easily identifiable rear jet intake and pointed nose,” Goldsmith said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which tracks the Russia-Ukraine war, said in a July 8 report: evaluation “The missile's trajectory seen in the video and the turbojet engines visible under its hull are consistent with the frame of a Russian Kh-101 and do not support the claim that it was an air defense interceptor, nor does the missile appear to have been damaged by an air defense interceptor.”

Fabian HoffmannPostdoctoral researchers at the Oslo Nuclear Project (ONP) also concluded that the missile was a Russian KH-101.

“Overall, anyone claiming this is not a Kh-101 is in denial of reality,” Hoffman tweeted. (RELATED: Joe Biden Falsely Claims Zero Troops Died Overseas During His Presidency)

Bellingcat too Created They created a 3D model of a US-made AIM-120 air defence missile and compared it with images and videos of the missile hitting the hospital.

“Comparing this model to images of the missile that struck the hospital reveals elements such as the AIM-120's forward fin not matching. Additionally, the tip of the AIM-120 is much sharper than the tip of the missile in the hospital raid video. Perhaps most noticeable is the absence of any parts on the AIM-120 that match the jet engine seen on the rear of the missile in the video,” Bellingcat concluded.

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