Kyiv Refuses to Confirm Moscow’s Claims of Patriot Defeat with Dagger Missile Strike

Kyiv refused to confirm Moscow’s statements about the defeat of the Patriot complex in Kyiv with the help of the Dagger missile

A US-made Patriot missile defense system was likely damaged, but not destroyed, by a Russian missile attack on Kyiv and its environs that took place in the early hours of Tuesday, May 16. CNN reported this with reference to a source in the White House.

The US is still assessing the extent of the damage, the source said. This will make it possible to determine whether the complex needs to be completely removed or simply repaired on site by Ukrainian personnel.

The Russian Ministry of Defense wrote on its Telegram channel on Tuesday that “a high-precision strike by a Kinzhal hypersonic missile system in the city of Kyiv hit an American-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system.”

Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday they had successfully intercepted all six hypersonic missiles fired by Moscow, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine declined to comment on the Russians’ claim that the Patriot SAM was hit.

“We cannot comment on this. We will not comment on Russian sources,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Serhiy Ignat said.

Currently, two Patriot complexes are operating in Ukraine, one of which was donated to Kyiv by the United States, and the other by Germany and the Netherlands. It is not clear which of these complexes was possibly damaged.

Russia has tried to destroy Ukrainian air defense systems with hypersonic missiles before, the White House told CNN last week, including such an attack on May 4. It failed: the Ukrainians successfully intercepted the missile before it could hit the Patriot, the sources said.

According to US officials, as noted by CNN, the Russians could pick up signals coming from the Patriot, which allowed them to target the SAM with the Dagger hypersonic missile.

The Patriot surface-to-air missile system is equipped with a powerful radar (RLS) for detecting airborne targets at a great distance, which makes it an effective missile defense system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and other targets.

However, the radar radiation needed to detect threats at a distance allows the enemy, in turn, to detect the Patriot complex and determine its location. As CNN notes, unlike some of the shorter-range missile defense systems transferred to Ukraine, which are more mobile and less vulnerable to missile strikes, the Patriot air defense system is a larger and more stationary system, which may allow the Russians to still hit it.