Ukraine’s top general revealed a successful strike on another Russian air defense system

The Ukrainian Armed Forces knocked out a Russian air defense system using missiles supplied by the United States according to a new report on social media from the Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief. 

Ukraine launched a ballistic missile strike against an S-300 anti-aircraft system behind the front in the Donetsk region using ATACMS missiles that were supplied to Kyiv by the United States. 

Combat footage of the strike was released by Ukrainian Commander-In-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on his social media account on X and he revealed the extent of the damage inflicted on the system. 

“I express my gratitude to the soldiers for the successful completion of the combat mission!” the Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief wrote on X according to a translation of his comments by the platform.  

Syrskyi reported that the radar station of the S-300 anti-aircraft system and an unknown number of launchers were struck in the attack according to a breakdown of his remarks from Militarnyi. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Militarnyi also reported that residents in the area said the strike took place during the night from July 15th to 16th. The footage Syrskyi published does indicate that the strike took place at night. 

Photo Credit: X @CinC_AFU

The Ukrainian military news website reported that at least four M39 cluster ballistic missiles had been used in the attack and noted a combined strike may have been used to destroy the S-300.

In the video footage, it appears as if the S-300 system is already burning prior to being hit by the Ukrainian missile strike, which Militarnyi noted “may indicate that more missiles were used.”

Photo Credit: X @CinC_AFU

“It is possible that the Ukrainian military could have resorted to a combined strike to destroy the anti-aircraft system, during which other weapon systems could have disabled the SAM’s radar,” Militarnyi explained. 

A Ukrainian Shark reconnaissance drone was used to partially confirm that the operation was a success. The drone was flying about five kilometers or roughly three miles away from the target. 

The Russian S-300 air defense system was located about seven kilometers or about four and a half miles from the occupied city of Mariupol near the village of Mangush.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Olegzima, CC BY-SA 3.0

Ukraine has been targeting Russian air defense systems in the occupied territories heavily in the previous two months and had struck at least fifteen systems around Crimea as of June 17th according to a military report cited by The Kyiv Independent’s news desk. 

Why Ukraine is targeting and destroying so many Russian air defense systems isn’t difficult to understand, Kyiv setting the conditions required for the future success of their incoming F-16 fighter jets, a fact Syrskyi explained. 

“We continue to systematically destroy the potential of Russian air defense, creating favorable conditions for the successful use of strike aircraft,” Syrskyi wrote on X on July 16th about the arrival of F-16 fighter jets. 

According to the Dutch open-source intelligence firm Oryx, its analysts have visually confirmed that Russia has lost a total of 260 surface-to-air missile systems since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

Whether or not Ukraine has knocked out enough anti-aircraft systems like the S-300 and S-400 to allow their new F-16 jets to fly safely in Ukrainian airspace has yet to be seen. However, with the jets expected to be flying in Ukraine soon, we may quickly see if Kyiv’s campaign has been successful. 

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.