Russia claims it ‘destroyed’ key US-provided air defence system in Kyiv
Wagner PMC appear to threaten Russian Duma Deputy Sobolev
A Russian defence official said that Tuesday’s attacks on Ukraine’s capital destroyed a Patriot missile battery in Kyiv. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the system was destroyed by a “Kinzhal.”
He did not provide evidence, and the statement couldn’t be independently verified. Ihnat, the Ukrainian air force spokesman, refused to comment on the claim.
The bolstered air defences have deterred Russian aircraft from going deep into Ukraine and helped shape the course of the war, military experts say.
Ukrainian air defences thwarted an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv early Tuesday, shooting down all 18 missiles aimed at the capital with the help of Western-supplied weapons, officials said.
Loud explosions boomed over Kyiv as the nighttime attack combined Russian missiles launched from the air, sea and land in an apparent attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences.
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No casualties were reported as Western-supplied weapons helped fend off the assault.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov cheered the display of defensive prowess, calling it in a tweet “another unbelievable success.”
A metal fragment that landed inside the Kyiv zoo and was seen by Associated Press reporters was labelled Lockheed Martin and Boeing, two of the companies involved in the manufacture of the Patriot missile system.
The overnight attack on Kyiv was “exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time,” said Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration.
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UK Ambassador Melinda Simmons tweeted that the barrage was “pretty intense.”
“Bangs and shaking walls are not an easy night,” she wrote.
It was the eighth time this month that Russian air raids had targeted the capital, a clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Later Tuesday, European leaders are taking part in a rare summit of the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body.
The two-day meeting in Iceland seeks to set up a way of logging damage in Ukraine caused by the Kremlin’s forces so compensation claims can be lodged against Moscow.
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