- Ukraine claims it has used US-made Patriot missile systems to down Russian hypersonic missiles.
- A military expert said Ukraine’s success with the weapon had amazed the Pentagon.
- The weapons are among the most advanced surface-to-air missiles sent to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s success in using the US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to down Russian weapons has amazed even the Pentagon, a military analyst said.
Ukrainian officials have claimed they have used the weapon to shoot down several Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which Moscow previously boasted were unstoppable.
“The United States thought for a long time, discussing whether to give us Patriots or not,” Ivan Kirichevskiy, an expert at the Ukrainian military news publication Defense Express, told Ukraine’s Radio NV, according to Newsweek.
“It turns out that our air defense forces with crash course training literally squeezed out of the Patriot a capability that the Pentagon did not think was possible.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had long been requesting the US to send defensive surface-to-air missile systems, which can strike aircraft, cruise missiles, and shorter-range ballistic missiles.
The US-provided systems finally arrived in Ukraine in April, with Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeting: “Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure.”
The Netherlands and Germany also said they would send Ukraine the weapons.
It is unclear how many Patriot missile systems Ukraine has, but they are among the most advanced surface-to-air missiles sent to Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin previously called Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. “undefeatable.” Insider has reported that the vulnerability of their missiles is likely a surprise and embarrassment for Russia, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The Patriot is the main air defense system that the US has in its arsenal, with the capability to track 100 targets from 60 miles away.
Last week, Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project, told UK’s Sky News that after Ukraine recently claimed to have repelled multiple Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, Russia has “never looked weaker.”
“This is a truly remarkable development,” he said
Hoffmann added, in a tweet, “The fact that Ukraine was able to defend this attack is amazing, in my opinion, whether the final interception rate is 90% or 100%.”