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​Missiles Fly Right Into Entrances: How Russia’s Air Defense Repelles the UAV Attack in Kursk

The 57E6 command-guided surface-to-air missiles for Pantsir-S1 self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system / Illustrative photo from open sources
The 57E6 command-guided surface-to-air missiles for Pantsir-S1 self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system / Illustrative photo from open sources

Russian air defense in Kursk shows poor performance in repelling another attack by unknown drones

The russians claim "another repulsed UAV attack" - this time the city of Kursk, located 100 km from the Ukrainian-Russian border, was attacked by unknown drones early morning, May 30

After mysterious unmanned aerial vehicles attacked targets directly on the territory of the russian federation, the occupiers thought about what was wrong with their air defense and began to take measures to strengthen their air defense. Among all the decisions, the most memorable, of course, was how the russians decided to place their the Pantsir-S1 air defense system on the roofs of buildings, including the Defense Ministry of the russian federation.

Read more: ​Ukraine Comments on Moscow UAV Attack: Drones Want to Return to their Creators

Pantsir-S1 air defense system on the roof of the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation, February 2023, Defense Express
Pantsir-S1 air defense system on the roof of the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation, February 2023 / Open source photo

The strengthening of air defense was, of course, not entirely uniform - in particular, at the beginning of May, Defense Express reported that the occupiers redeployed air defense equipment from other directions to directly protect Moscow. In particular, in order to "close" the sky above the capital, air defense systems of various types were redeployed there - such as S-400 air defense systems, the Pantsyr-S1ADS as well as some arctic vehicles.

But UAVs of unknown origin continue to find their targets in different parts of the russian federation. Thus, the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, reported on the attack of drones, which were allegedly shot down by air defense means on Friday night.

Also, a representative of the russian local authorities reported that "as a result of an attack" by drones, allegedly directly in the city of Kursk, the entrance of one of the high-rise buildings was damaged. But, judging by the photos and videos that were published on the Internet, the entrance door was "attacked" not by mythical drones, but by a very real anti-aircraft missile of Pantsir-S1 ADS. "They shot right at the door," comments one of the participants on the video.

If you compare the photo of the entrance above and the photo posted by the governor of the region Starovoit, it turns out that the remnants of the Pantsir-S1 ADS’ missile ended up right next to the entrance that was "hit" by the drone. At the same time, the local authorities for some reason have not yet published the photos of the remnants of the UAV that allegedly attacked the Russian city.

We will remind you that earlier this week, on May 30, there was an attack by mysterious drones in the Moscow region. At the same time, the drones attacked the most elite place of residence in the russian federation - the well-known Rublyovka, where russian officials and representatives of the so-called russian elite live.

Read more: ​Mystery Drones Target Moscow's Elite District, Raising Concerns over Kremlin’s Inability to Guarantee Safety