Air Force explains why Patriot systems cannot shoot down all ballistic missiles

The Partiot air defense system has a limited range to counter ballistic missiles, and more such systems are needed to protect at least Ukrainian regional centers and critical facilities. This is in the context of the massive Russian attack on October 10 said Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, during the telethon.

The military official noted that during this attack, the Patriot system managed to intercept one Kinzhal airborne ballistic missile and four ballistic weapons. In total, the Russians used two Kinzhal and 14 Iskander-M ballistic missiles or their North Korean counterparts KN-23.

The spokesman reminded that Patriot "is still a good system capable of intercepting ballistics," but the radius within which this weapon can counter ballistic targets "is not that big" and is about 25 kilometers.

"Therefore, one can only imagine how many of these systems we need to close the territory of Ukraine, to close at least our regional centers with critical infrastructure facilities on which the lives of Ukrainians depend," Ihnat said.

Therefore, when the Russians attack with a large number of ballistic missiles, it is not possible to intercept targets "as we would like," the military official said.

"Especially since today in different regions "Iskanders-M and KN-23 were flying," he summarized.

• On September 29, the deputy defense minister said that Ukraine uses Patriot systems only to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles. In this way, he commented the issue of arms shortage to destroy the occupiers' missiles.
• On October 5, Air Force spokesman Ihnat said that it had become more difficult for Ukrainian defenders to counter Russian ballistic missiles, but that the issue of improving these weapons by the occupiers is not new.