When Vladimir Putin unveiled the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile in March 2018, he declared it “invincible”—a hypersonic weapon traveling at speeds exceeding 4,000 miles per hour with no equal in the world. Former U.S. President Joe Biden later acknowledged in 2022 that the missile was “almost impossible to stop.” Today, those declarations ring hollow as a Ukrainian electronic warfare unit called Night Watch has reported that Russia’s most celebrated superweapon relies on vulnerable navigation technology—and they are systematically exploiting that vulnerability using a jamming system called Lima EW.
From Civilian Volunteers to Consequential Defenders
Night Watch began as a disorganized group of civilian volunteers in the chaotic early hours of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The unit has since evolved into one of the war’s most consequential forces. In just two weeks, Night Watch reportedly intercepted 19 Kinzhal missiles using Lima EW, a system that weaponizes the missile’s greatest strength—its hypersonic speed—against itself. Rather than attempting to destroy weapons traveling at Mach 5 physically, the Ukrainian team discovered a flaw that turns the missile’s velocity into a liability.
How a Song Becomes a Weapon
The Lima system operates by generating a disruption field that severs the missile’s connection to GLONASS, Russia’s GPS-equivalent satellite navigation network. Night Watch representatives explained the mechanism to reporters: “We just send a song…we just make it into binary code… and just send it to the Russian navigation system.” The signal is based on “Our Father Is Bandera,” a Ukrainian nationalist anthem referencing Stepan Bandera—a symbolic choice to counter Russian propaganda.
Once the spoofing signal floods the Kinzhal’s navigation receivers, Lima reportedly feeds a fake location signal that makes the missile believe it is in Lima, Peru. When the confused weapon attempts to drastically correct its course while traveling at hypersonic speeds, the airframe often fails under the excessive stress or the missile veers off course and crashes into empty fields, as observed in recent incidents.
Russia’s Futile Countermeasures
Recognizing the vulnerability, Russia has attempted to defeat Lima by increasing the number of navigation receivers on each missile. According to Night Watch, the original design featured four receivers; Russia increased this to eight, then sixteen on the most recently intercepted Kinzhal. Yet each iteration has failed. Night Watch explained that Russia fundamentally misunderstands how Lima operates: “They think we make the attack on each receiver,” but when a missile enters Lima’s range, “we cover all types of receivers.” The jamming system creates a blanket disruption field that renders all receivers useless simultaneously.
“It’s physically impossible to connect with another satellite… That’s why they started with four receivers, and right now it’s 16. I guess in the future we’ll see 24, but it’s pretty useless,” a unit member told Forbes.
The Economics of Electronic Warfare
A single Kinzhal missile costs an estimated $4.5 million to $15 million. The nineteen missiles Night Watch claims to have downed in two weeks represent potentially over $85 million in destroyed Russian hardware. Meanwhile, Lima EW uses electronic signals rather than expensive interceptor missiles, which can cost $4 million each for Patriot air defense systems. The economics strongly favor Ukraine: electronic warfare can protect vast areas without depleting precious ammunition stocks.
This breakthrough comes as Russia wages a systematic campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. On November 25, 2025, Russia launched 464 attack drones and 22 missiles, including Kinzhals, in one of the most intense bombardments of the war. Russian attacks have destroyed more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity, according to the think tank Green Deal Ukraina. Power outages now last up to 12 hours daily in some regions as temperatures drop.
Mythology Dismantled Through Ingenuity
Putin’s 2018 presentation of “invincible” weapons was designed to project Russian military supremacy. That mythology has now been systematically dismantled—first by Patriot systems in May 2023, and now by electronic warfare that exploits fundamental design weaknesses. Night Watch expects Russia to continue adding receivers to its Kinzhals, yet the underlying vulnerability remains. For now, a Ukrainian electronic warfare team has proven that sometimes the most powerful defense against a hypersonic superweapon is clever deception and homegrown innovation.
Sources:
Ukraine Is Jamming Russia’s ‘Superweapon’ With a Song(November 2025)
Forbes – How Spoofing Is Diverting Russian Missiles Into Empty Fields(November 20, 2025)
National Security Journal – Ukraine is Jamming Russia’s Mach 10 Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile with Music(November 12, 2025)
Reuters – Russia strikes Ukraine energy grid, killing seven, including children(October 30, 2025)
Ukrainian Air Force Official Records – Combat interception summaries(November 2025)
UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission Ukraine – Civilian Impact Reports and casualty assessments(November 2025)