The Russian defense Ministry: A Ukrainian radar station and five Patriot missiles launchers were destroyed

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced, according to reliable data, that on Tuesday, May 16, as a result of a missile strike with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, a radar station and 5 launchers of the Patriot system were destroyed.

On May 16, 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Kinzhal missile targeted Patriot anti-missile system in Kiev.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement, “The Kinzhal hypersonic missile hit, with a high-precision strike, the American Patriot anti-missile missile system in the city of Kiev”.

During Tuesday night, the Russian armed forces launched a concentrated strike with long-range weapons, by air and sea, with high accuracy, targeting the deployment points of the Ukrainian armed forces, and targeting places and warehouses for storing ammunition, weapons, and military equipment that had been received from Western countries.

For his part, a US official confirmed on Wednesday that one of the Patriot air defense systems supplied to Ukraine had been damaged but was still operational.

“The Patriot system is still working,” the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP, and that the extent of the damage it suffered from an unspecified projectile hitting it at a close distance is still being assessed.

“No worries, everything is fine with the Patriot system,” Yury Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, told AFP.

“The Patriot system is operational and everything is fine,” he added.

Ukraine announced in mid-April that it had received its first US Patriot air defense systems, a promise Joe Biden made to Volodymyr Zelensky in December during the Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington.

On Tuesday, the Russian army confirmed that it had destroyed the Patriot system with a “high-precision strike” using a “Kinzhal hypersonic missile”.

Kiev announced that it shot down six Kinzhal missiles, which was denied by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shogo.

The Kinzhal is a type of weapon that Russian President Vladimir Putin calls “invincible” because its hypersonic speed allows it to avoid being intercepted by most air defense systems.

Ukraine has repeatedly demanded to provide it with the Patriot missile system to help it protect itself from Russian strikes targeting its civilians and infrastructure.

The “Patriot MIM-104” is a surface-to-air missile system developed by Raytheon, and it was developed mainly to intercept high-altitude aircraft.

The system was modified in the eighties of the last century to address the dangers of ballistic missiles, and it was used to counter the Russian-made Scud missiles launched by Iraqi forces in the first Gulf War.