Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Russia says it has destroyed a US-built Patriot air defense system in an overnight barrage of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The Russian military said on Tuesday it destroyed the US air defense system using a hypersonic Kinzhal missile.
The missile is capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads up to 2,000 kilometers. Last year, for the first time Russia used the weapon in warfare in Ukraine.
In addition, the Russian defense ministry said it launched several strikes from land, sea, and air on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
It had carried out “high-precision” attacks on Ukrainian units, ammunition, and storage sites, the ministry said. “Targets achieved.”
The Zvezda military news outlet quoted the Russian ministry as saying the attacks had been aimed at Ukrainian fighting units and ammunition storage sites.
Kyiv also confirmed the attacks.
“It was exceptional in its density – the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on Telegram.
In the meantime, Ukraine claimed it shot down 18 Russian missiles, including an entire volley of six Kinzhals.
Earlier this month, Kyiv claimed its forces had shot down a single Kinzhal missile over the capital for the first time using a newly deployed US Patriot air defense system.
Russia launched its full-scale military campaign on Ukraine in February last year. It has so far managed to annex around a sixth of its neighbor’s territory.
It says the invasion was necessary to counter a threat to its security posed by Kyiv’s close ties to the West.
Since the onset of the war, the West has supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems despite Russia’s repeated warnings that the Western military assistance will only prolong the conflict.
