Patriot intercepts 14 of 18 ballistic missiles - Ihnat

Patriot intercepts 14 of 18 ballistic missiles - Ihnat

Ukrinform
During Russia's latest massive air attack, Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 14 of 18 ballistic missiles, which is a very high efficiency rate.

This was stated on television by Yuriy Ihnat, head of the communications department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.

"Today, you saw a massive use of ballistics—18 ballistic missiles, plus a Zircon missile that attacked Vinnytsia, a critical infrastructure facility. Fourteen of the 18 missiles that struck the capital were shot down. It is clear that the Patriot system was working, and this is a very, very high result for ballistics in general," Ihnat said.

He added that during the night attack, air defense forces destroyed 13 of 15 cruise missiles, two more were lost locally, as well as 315 of 339 strike drones.

At the same time, Ihnat noted that under conditions of constant massive attacks, it is impossible to achieve 100% interception.

“We emphasize once again, let them shoot down 85% or 90%. Still, those 15%, 10% or 20% that are not shot down constantly hit somewhere. How many attacks did the enemy carry out during this entire autumn-winter period? Every day, 100-150 ”Shaheds." Then we have combined attacks, massive attacks with the use of missiles, and constantly those two, three, or four missiles hit somewhere, debris falls somewhere, and we constantly lose one object or another, and our energy workers have to restore everything," he stressed.

Read also: Zelensky explains why Ukraine is not sending troops to Greenland

Ihnat also stressed that missiles are needed for the air defense system to work successfully.

“There is a shortage of missiles - both for ground-based systems, air defense, and aircraft. Therefore, we are constantly appealing to our partners - both European and American - to really help us defend ourselves against such massive strikes,” he said.

As reported by Ukrinform, on the night of January 20, air defense units hit 342 enemy targets, including 14 Iskander-M/S-300 ballistic missiles, 13 Kh-101 cruise missiles, and 315 enemy UAVs.

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