Don’t worry about Patriot system, Air Force asks Ukrainians

The Patriot air defence system, reported to have been damaged in a recent Russian strike, is too complex to be destroyed by a single missile, the Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said on Wednesday.

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Overnight on Tuesday, Russia attacked Ukraine with eighteen missiles, including X-47 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, with all of them shot down by air defence.

Russia’s defence ministry, however, reported that the Patriot air defence system was allegedly hit, which was later also reported by CNN, citing a US official.

Speaking on national television, Yurii Ihnat asked that people "don’t worry about the fate of the Patriot [air defence system]."

"Patriot is a battery complex, a division, a system... Everyone calls it different things, and no one can really understand what it consists of," he said.

The Air Force spokesman explained that a Patriot division is a command post where combat crews track air targets, receive information about the air situation in their area of responsibility and engage air targets. It can operate in manual, semi-automatic and automatic modes.

"It is Patriot’s automatic mode that allows it to shoot down air targets without human intervention, as it did that night," Mr Ihnat added.

In addition, a Patriot system has a radar that provides information and is located at a distance from the division, and up to eight launchers, each with four transport and launch containers, which are also located at a certain distance making sure air defence missiles are launched.

"This is what Patriot is all about. It's impossible to destroy the system with some kind of 'Kinzhal' [Russian air-launched ballistic missile]," the Air Force spokesman concluded.

"Therefore, let everything they [Russians] say remain in their propaganda records."