Ukraine said on Wednesday that its air defense systems, using recently replenished anti-aircraft missile inventories from allies including the United States, shot down 29 of 30 missiles and exploding drones that Russia fired at the country overnight. This is Ukraine’s highest interception rate so far during the war.
In Kiev, authorities said they shot down a series of missiles and explosive drones targeting the capital as the devices approached or soared over the capital. The aerial showdown began over the city around 3 a.m., pitting mainly Western-supplied air defense systems against incoming Russian missiles.
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s anti-aircraft ammunition was severely insufficient. Some battery commanders said their missiles were being rationed to allow Russian missiles to pass unimpeded. Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a conference on economic aid to Ukraine that the Ukrainian military needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems.
The Biden administration decided to provide Ukraine with an additional set of Patriot systems, including launchers, a missile inventory and powerful radar antennas used to find targets. Other countries are also considering moving Patriot launchers to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said this week that Germany had organized the donation of 100 missiles from its stockpile as well as those from Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, of which 32 had been delivered.
Flashes of light lit up the skyline and explosions were heard as the attack occurred on Wednesday. One civilian was injured by falling debris, authorities said.
“The enemy launched another missile attack on the capital,” a Kiev military official said in a message on the social networking site Telegram. The attack, which combined several types of weapons, including drones and cruise missiles, was typical of recent Russian attacks. The purpose of this tactic was to overload Ukraine’s air defense systems.
The cruise missiles were launched from bombers flying in Russian airspace and were expected to arrive in Kiev at the same time as a salvo of Iranian-designed Shahd explosive drones. In the overall attack, Russia also fired three ballistic missiles, one Iskander medium-range ground-launched ballistic missile and two air-launched Dagger missiles, which were launched from aircraft, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Flying at hypersonic speeds. Ukrainian and Western officials say Patriot interceptors are the only defense against Knife missiles.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that could not be independently confirmed that Ukraine shot down five of the six missiles and all 24 Shahd drones.
Ukraine’s interception rate of drones and missiles fell in the first months of this year compared with the same period last year, due to a shortage of anti-aircraft munitions and Russia’s tactics to evade defensive measures.
Data from the Ukrainian Air Force shows that the average drone kill rate in the 12 months to April was about 80%. Data shows that the missile interception rate has dropped to less than 50% in several months this year.
In neighboring Poland, the military said it had scrambled jets to defend its airspace as Russian missiles flew over Ukraine.
Ruslan Kravchenko, Kiev’s military administrator, said in a separate post on Telegram on Wednesday that falling debris injured a civilian in the leg. Falling missile fragments also caused two fires.
Intercepted debris – sometimes small silvery metal shards, sometimes heavy rocket engines – rain down on Kiev after such engagements, often causing damage. The debris came from interceptors and incoming Russian missiles.
Russia has been targeting power plants in recent attacks, and by this month about half of Ukraine’s generating capacity had been destroyed. As a result, the government implemented rolling blackouts across the country.
Natalia Novosolova contributed reporting.
