Ukraine’s claim: we were able to fight with Patriot!

According to Fars International News Agency, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed on Saturday (May 6) that it shot down a Russian hypersonic missile over Kiev using the American Patriot defense system that was recently acquired by Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities have made the claim that according to military experts, neither the Patriot system nor other systems at the military level are capable of shooting down a hypersonic missile like Kinzhal. According to experts, this missile probably had a technical defect and fell.

Mykola Olshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, claimed in a telegram post that last week, a Russian ballistic missile of the Kinzhal type was intercepted during Moscow’s night attack over Kiev. According to the Associated Press, this is believed to be the first time that Ukraine has used Patriot defense systems.

This Ukrainian official claimed in his message: “Yes, we shot down the unique Kinzhal.” It was carried out in the night attack on the 4th of May (Thursday, 14 May) in the sky of Kiev region.

According to this Ukrainian official, the Russian Kh-47 missile was launched from a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down by a Patriot missile.

Kinzhal is one of the newest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says this air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers and flies at ten times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept. The combination of speed and heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets such as underground bunkers or ammunition tunnels.

The Ukrainian army made this claim while it had previously admitted that it lacks the equipment to intercept the Kinzhal hypersonic missile.

Ukraine received its first shipment of Patriot missiles in late April. It is not clear how many Patriot systems it has, but the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have provided this system to Kiev. Germany has confirmed the delivery of at least one system, and the Netherlands has said that it has provided two Patriot air defense systems to Kiev.

According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, for the first time in August 2021, months before the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, he requested to receive these systems during his trip to America, but his request was rejected by Washington at that time.

end of message/m