WP: Israeli Patriot fails to help Kyiv fend off Russian attacks
Ukraine's air defense and missile defense systems are unable to fully repel massive combined missile and drone attacks by the Russian Armed Forces. Even with an additional US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system donated by Israel, Ukraine is unable to fully defend even its capital. This was reported by the Washington Post, commenting on the Russian strike on Ukrainian territory on the night of October 5 and providing some details of the incident.
The publication notes that Russian ballistic missiles began evading American surface-to-air missiles (SAMs or interceptors) launched by Patriot missiles. Since the air-to-air missiles failed to intercept them, they instead struck targets on the ground.
Experts clarified that Moscow has modernized its munitions. The Russians have learned to "manipulate" their missiles so that they can skillfully evade Ukrainian air and missile defense systems. In other words, the Russian Armed Forces' missiles have become more maneuverable.
Even these systems have failed to intercept some recent attacks, including those on Kyiv, experts say, in part because Russia continues to improve its missiles to evade these systems.
– explains the WP article.
The publication also noted that the Israelis recently transferred one Patriot launcher to Ukraine, and Ukraine expects to receive several more similar systems from its European partners soon. However, this will likely not be enough. Dozens of these and other systems are needed to create a semblance of an air shield over such a large country.
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