Russian missile upgrades challenge Ukraine's defense systems
The recent large-scale attack by the Russians has demonstrated that it is becoming increasingly challenging for Ukrainians to intercept ballistic missiles, even with the support of Patriot anti-aircraft systems. Ukrainian military officials believe this difficulty arises from the invaders' modifications to their weapons.
The Unian agency reports that on the night of April 5 to 6, the Russians struck the Kyiv region, including the Ukrainian capital, with six Iskander-M ballistic missiles. These were launched from stations in Russia's Bryansk region. The defenders managed to shoot down only one of the Iskanders.
Russians are improving ballistic missiles
Colonel Yuriy Ihnat, head of the press service of the Air Force of Ukraine, highlighted that the Russians are systematically updating their weapons to enhance their effectiveness. There has been much discussion about this in relation to the Shahed drones, but the Russians' efforts are increasingly evident in weapons with greater destructive power, including ballistic missiles.
"The same applies to ballistic missiles. After the introduction of Patriot systems, we started to achieve good results in shooting down Kinzhals and Iskanders. Now it's more challenging because the enemy is upgrading their ballistic missiles," commented Yuriy Ihnat.
Dangerous Russian weapons. Are the Ukrainians lacking Patriots?
The Iskander-M system provides the Russians with significant capabilities. These missiles measure over 7 metres long and enable attacks on targets at distances between 500 and 600 kilometres. Like other ballistic weapons, they reach high speeds after launch—about 6-7 Mach (approximately 7,353 to 8,574 km/h). As a result, Iskander-M system missiles are difficult for anti-aircraft defenses to intercept.
One of the few weapons equipped to handle such threats is the Patriot systems. However, the modifications introduced by the Russians to the ballistic missiles may reduce their effectiveness. Yuriy Ihnat noted that Ukraine is sharing information with Western partners, requesting them to consider these updates and also improve their systems.
Ukrainian military expert and former general staff spokesperson Vladyslav Selezniov also expressed that the modifications introduced by the Russians to the ballistic missiles will have increasingly severe consequences for the defenders, especially as drone strikes support these attacks.
"Our air and missile defense systems, even the most effective ones, will not always be able to repel all enemy attacks. Furthermore, they continue to combine missile attacks with drones. It appears that the production of these drones has been increased," evaluated Vladyslav Selezniov on NV radio.
