Ukraine builds air defense network, ready to shoot down "invincible" Russian missiles

Patriot air defense system (Photo: US Army).

"So far, there have been no major attacks like we saw last year. They attack the power system every day, that's true, and they try to destroy as many facilities as possible. But on the scale we are talking about, like the first (large-scale) attack on October 10, with about 100 missiles launched at the same time to hit multiple power generation and transmission facilities, there has been no such attack so far," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on state television on November 23.

Mr. Galushchenko noted that Ukraine's air defense system is now much more effective, capable of shooting down Russian Kinzhal missiles, which previously caused significant damage to Ukraine's energy system.

“We now have a much stronger air defense system and this year, mainly thanks to the efforts of the president, we received a large number of systems that we have never had before. In particular, it is the Patriot system, which we did not have,” Galushchenko said.

"Patriot allows us to shoot down Russian Kinzhal missiles, which we could not shoot down before," the Ukrainian minister stressed.

Ukraine now has Patriot systems supplied by the US and Germany. The arrival of the Patriots in the spring, along with a host of other air defense systems, has been a game-changer, helping Ukrainian forces repel most of the Russian airstrikes on the capital Kiev over the past few months.

Patriot is a multi-purpose long-range air defense missile system with a range of 70-160km, capable of operating in all weather conditions with a target ceiling of up to 24km. Patriot is capable of intercepting many aerial targets, including fighter aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Patriot air defense system (Photo: US Army).

The Kinzhal missile has a range of about 2,000km and a speed 10 times the speed of sound (more than 12,000km/h), making it almost impossible to intercept. The missile can carry a 500kg conventional warhead, or a nuclear warhead with an explosive equivalent of 100-500kt.

This is one of six strategic weapons announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his 2018 State of the Union Address. The Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly affirmed that the Kinzhal missile is invisible and is considered invincible to any enemy air defense system.

Russia first used the Kinzhal during a special military operation in Ukraine in March 2022 when a missile targeted a military fuel depot near the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

According to Mr. Galushchenko, although it is not possible to restore all damaged power system facilities, the Ukrainian government has tried its best to repair these facilities.

"We have carried out the largest-scale repair operation, which is underway and will be able to provide enough electricity throughout the winter," the Ukrainian official added.

Answering a question about how the Energy Ministry is preparing for winter, Minister Galushchenko said that the power system is still working, so only missile attacks can affect the situation.

Mr. Galushchenko also emphasized that the best support for the energy industry today is air defense capacity.

Earlier, missile and nuclear weapons expert Oleksandr Kochetkov warned that the stage of a massive attack on Ukraine is still ahead because Russia has accumulated 950 missiles of various types and produced three times more drones than last winter.

Moscow’s raids last year destroyed about 60 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials say Russia has attacked Ukrainian infrastructure at least 60 times in recent weeks, a sign that an offensive campaign may be underway.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on November 12 warned his country's people to prepare for a new wave of Russian airstrikes on Kiev's infrastructure as winter approaches.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/ukraine-dung-luoi-phong-khong-san-sang-ha-ten-lua-bat-kha-chien-bai-nga-20231124121756484.htm