Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz held a briefing on July 6, 2026, on the total amount of aid provided to Ukraine since the start of russia's full-scale invasion. During the briefing, it was announced that S-200 systems had been supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
This news is important because it officially clarifies where Ukraine obtained the S-200s used to shoot down russian A-50 and Tu-22M3 aircraft in 2024. Earlier, Poland had only hinted in 2024 that it might have supplied Ukraine with these systems, citing this as the reason it was not ready at the time to provide Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.
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It is known that Poland had a limited number of S-200 air defense systems—six launchers as of 2021 and just three by 2023—which were deployed along the Baltic Sea coast to provide long-range air defense coverage.
Until the arrival of the first two Patriot batteries in late 2023, the S-200 systems were the most powerful air defense systems at the disposal of the Polish Armed Forces. During the Warsaw Pact era, Poland planned to acquire S-300 air defense systems but did not manage to purchase them before the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
The Polish S-200s were decommissioned around 2023. However, Poland did not publicly announce the decommissioning. The claim that Poland had probably transferred its S-200 systems to Ukraine and therefore could not provide Patriot systems seemed plausible in 2024, as the Patriots had been ordered specifically to replace the Soviet-era S-200s.
In an interview in April 2024, Kyrylo Budanov, then chief of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, confirmed that S-200 systems had been used to shoot down two A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft and a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, suggesting that the systems may have undergone modifications.
In May 2025, the use of the S-200 air defense system was shown in detail for the first time. In particular, it was revealed that the missiles were launched from a standard stationary 5P72V launcher rather than a mobile launcher, as had previously been believed.
At the same time, it also emerged that Western experts were helping Ukraine modernize the S-200 for use in the current war, prompting questions about where they had acquired experience with these air defense systems.
Between 2025 and 2026, there were no public reports of the Ukrainian Armed Forces using S-200 systems. It should be noted that the absence of public reports does not necessarily mean the systems were not used, but the overall picture remains undisclosed for operational security reasons.
Ivan Kyrychevskiy, serviceman of the 413th Raid Regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine and weapons expert at Defense Express.
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