AFU’s lieutenant general names factors that contributed to efficiency of Ukrainian air defense

Lieutenant General of Ukrainian Armed Forces Artur Artemenko told about the factors that contributed to the air defense efficiency in an interview with Radio NV.

"If you take the general numbers that were described in the books we studied at the academies, an effective air defense system is a system that can neutralize the level of attack by 30%. At the very first stages of the war, after February 24, our air defense system worked somewhere in this way. In a month or two we reached 50 percent, and then - more and more," Artemenko noted.

According to him, such results were achieved due to several factors. First, the level of training of the personnel has increased. Secondly, Ukrainian authorities began to work more effectively in planning air defense, that is, the choice of positions. The third factor is the delivery of air defense equipment from partners. 

"First of all, these were portable anti-aircraft missile systems, which mostly ensured our protection directly from enemy aircraft, which were pushed away from the territory of Ukraine and can be used only on the contact line now. And subsequently - the arrival of IRIS-T, NASAMS systems, which are already present in Ukraine, but in very small quantities. And now we are talking about the arrival of one Patriot battery," Artemenko added.

He noted that the arrival of the Patriot system to Ukraine, as well as other weapons, is very important, although in general such means are currently critically small. 

"For you to understand, for example, Patriot has a combat radius of about 150 kilometers at an average altitude. Given that the missiles used against us fly at an altitude of about 50 meters, the range of the complex is 40-50 kilometers. That is, one battery will cover one place," he said.

• Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said that on December 29, Russia fired 70 missiles at Ukraine during another massive attack, 58 of them were destroyed.