Ministry of defense of the russian federation has reported a successful destruction of a PATRIOT air defense system in service with Ukrainian forces, the news has been shared by multiple russian media, including the state-owned RIA Novosti.
More specifically, russian military officials say the Patriot system was hit with a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal "hypersonic" missile in another round of missile attacks on Ukraine on the night of May 16. However, the Ukrainian side says they managed to take all six Kinzhal missiles down.
Read more: Ukrainian Air Defense Forces Repel a Multidirectional Missile Attack: 6 Kinjal, 9 Kalibr, 3 S-400 and Iskander-M Missiles, 6 Strike and 3 Reconnaissance Drones
Notably, Ukraine's Joint Forces Commander Serhii Naiev described the density of russian missile strikes as exceptionally high, especially around the capital. However due to a network of echeloned air defense, all the targets directed at Kyiv were downed.
There is no information in respect to the deployment location of Patriot systems but currently this is the only weapon that can intercept a ballistic missile such as the Kh-47 Kinzhal. Air Force of Ukraine on the morning following the attack, reported:
"Six MiG-31K aircraft launched six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ballistic missiles," among other types of missiles launched overnight. That is, all potential missiles targeting Patriot systems were eliminated by this very system.
We should note that it isn't the first time russians tried to take down Patriot with its hypersonic missile. Soon after the Kinzhal was first downed in Ukraine on May 4, Pentagon's press secretary Brig Gen Patrick Ryder revealed what was the target for this scarce weapon. Turns out it was no other than the Patriot system, the location of which could have been uncovered by russians due to the Patriot's powerful radar.
Apparently, this time russians tried to overload Ukrainian air defenses with the density of fire within a short amount of time. But according to Ukraine, they didn't succeed at all which shows the progress made by the country in this field over more than a year of continuous russian missile attacks.
On the other hand, we have russia that tries to persuade anyone it gains imaginary victories in Ukraine. Yesterday, their defense ministry said it managed to intercept a Storm Shadow stealth missile provided to Ukraine by Great Britain just recently.
Read more: russian Ministry of Defense Finally Reports Downed Storm Shadow Missile
