Commander Serhiy Yaremenko told how Ukraine managed to shoot down one of the most modern Russian ballistic missiles “Kinzhal” with the help of the “Patriot” air defense system, reports CNN.

Ukraine claims that on May 16, its defenses successfully intercepted six Russian Kinjal missiles.

Commander Serhii Yaremenko and the Air Command’s 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade were at the center of the defense, but only later realized they had defeated one of Russia’s most powerful weapons, he said. .

“Honestly, I realized that I shot down the Kinjal missiles only after an expert analyst examined the wreckage,” Yaremenko told Army Inform, the website of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

When Russia launched its attack, “sixteen ballistic targets came in from different directions, most of them aimed at the Patriot system,” the commander said, referring to the powerful US missile defense system.

“I am always proud of my subordinates, but this time even I was shocked by their resilience. People realized that ballistic missiles were flying straight at them,” he continued.

“They did not panic for a second, they acted in a coordinated and organized manner, distributed the targets between sectors and ensured that they were destroyed in a minimum radius sufficient to reduce the possibility of damage to the infrastructure.”

Yaremenko noted that the Ukrainian fighters were emotional when all the targets were finally destroyed and the airspace was declared free. It was later revealed that there were also six Kinjal missiles.

The defense demonstrates the value of the Patriot system for Ukraine, even taking into account the weapons that Moscow has positioned as impossible to combat, Yaremenko noted.

What is the Patriot Missile System?

Patriot, short for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, is a surface-to-air missile defense system developed by Raytheon Technologies Corp and considered one of the most advanced air defense systems in the US arsenal.

The system was first used in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, when batteries defended Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel, and was later used during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Can the Patriot shoot down hypersonic missiles?

The Patriot system was developed before hypersonic weapons were sent to the battlefield, and Raytheon has not publicly stated that it is effective against hypersonic missiles, meaning missiles that travel five times the speed of sound.

While the U.S. said a Patriot system shot down a Kinjal missile last week, it is unclear whether the missile was traveling at hypersonic speeds at the time.

Although Russia’s Kinjal missile can reach speeds of up to 7,600 mph (12,350 km/h), “Russia’s definition of the Kinjal missile as ‘hypersonic’ is misleading because almost all ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speeds (i.e. above Mach 5) . ) at some point during their flight,” according to a March 2022 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

• pageWill Ukraine use Patriot systems to shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles?

Ukraine said it shot down six Kinzhal missiles on Tuesday, but Russia denied this.

Ukraine said it shot down such a Russian missile for the first time in early May thanks to the powerful American Patriot anti-aircraft system delivered to Kyiv in April.