Patriot system cannot be destroyed by Kinzhal single missile - Air Force spox

It is impossible to destroy the Patriot air defense system with a single Kinzhal missile.

The spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat said this on the air of the nationwide telethon "United News", Ukrinform reports.

"Do not worry about the fate of Patriot. From a technical point of view, Patriot is a complex, a battery, a division, a system - everyone calls it differently, but they cannot understand what air defense consists of. Let's take a division, which is a command center where combat personnel sit, track air targets, and receive information about the air situation in their area of responsibility. Thus, they practice on air targets. It can operate in manual, automatic and semi-automatic modes. It is the automatic mode that allows Patriot to shoot down air targets without human intervention, as it did last night," Ihnat said.

He explained that the complex includes a radar, which provides information and is located at a distance, and up to eight launchers, each with four transport and launch containers, which are also located at a certain distance.

"It's impossible to destroy the system with a Kinzhal. Therefore, everything they say there will remain in the archive of their propaganda," Ihnat added.

As Ukrinform reported, at about 03:30 on May 16, 2023, Russian troops attacked Ukraine from the northern, southern and eastern directions with 25 missiles, all of which were destroyed by Ukrainian defenders. In addition, on the night of May 16, the enemy attacked with Shahed-136/131 attack drones, and conducted aerial reconnaissance with three operational and tactical level drones - Orlan-10 and SuperCum.