Ukraine forces shot down 18 Russian missiles, including six of its highly-touted “hypersonic” Kinzahl missiles, as they successfully fought off a rocket barrage launched at Kyiv early Tuesday morning, according to Ukrainian military officials.

The six Kinzhals were among 27 missiles Russia fired at Ukraine over the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s military General Staff said in its evening update on Tuesday. 

 Air sirens blared throughout Kyiv for more than three hours during the 3:30 a.m. attack, sending residents fleeing for cover as the sky over the city lit up with flashes and debris rained down. 

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said it fended off 18 missiles launched at the Ukrainian capital from the land, air and sea from the north, east and south.

“Six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles were fired from six MiG-31K aircraft, nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea, and three land-based missiles (S-400, Iskander-M),” Zaluzhnyi tweeted. He said Russia additionally launched attack drones, which were all shot down.

Three people were injured by falling debris, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Debris also set one building on fire — which was extinguished — and fell on the grounds of a zoo, but no losses were reported, the mayor said.

“It was exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on Telegram.

All was reportedly “under complete control” in the besieged capital later Tuesday.

“The enemy’s mission is to sow panic and create chaos. However, in the northern operationalzone (including Kyiv), everything is under complete control,” Gen. Serhiy Naev, commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces, said.

Russia’s defense ministry claimed to have destroyed a US-built Patriot surface-to-air missile defense system with a Kinzhal missile, the Zvezda military news outlet reported.

The attacks reportedly targeted Ukrainian fighting units and ammunition storage sites, according to the outlet.

Tuesday’s successful defense was the first time Ukraine has successfully shot down an entire volley of multiple Kinzhal missiles — thanks to the newly deployed air defense systems provided by Western allies.

The Kinzhals — Russian for “dagger” — can carry conventional or nuclear warheads up to 1,240 miles. 

Russia used the weapon in warfare for the first time in Ukraine last year and has acknowledged firing the missiles and handful of times.

President Vladimir Putin has frequently touted the Kinzhal as proof of the next-generation Russian military hardware capable of taking on NATO.

Earlier this month, Ukraine claimed it intercepted the first Kinzahl missile using a newly deployed US Patriot air defense system.

The US military confirmed that account but did not say whether the Russian missile was flying at hypersonic speed when it was shot down.

The US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says the Kinzhal rapidly accelerates to Mach 4 (3,045 miles per hour) after launch and may reach speeds of up to Mach 10 — or 10 times the speed of sound. Hypersonic weapons travel at least five times the speed of sound.

While officials have not confirmed what weapon was used to shoot down the Kinzahl missiles on Tuesday, two US officials and a Western official familiar with the attack told CNN that Ukrainian forces used long-range Storm Shadow missiles, which were provided by the United Kingdom, to take out Russian targets.

Tuesday’s attack was the eighth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted Kyiv, a clear escalation ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive — its first in six months.

It also comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky concludes a European tour meeting with key wartime allies, which spurred additional pledges in military aid, including a $3 million aid package pledged by Germany over the weekend.

Ukraine is expected to deploy some of the hundreds of modern tanks and armored vehicles provided by the West during its counteroffensive, marking the next major phase of the war following a failed Russian winter offensive.

With Post wires