Air Force spokesman Ihnat explains which missiles cannot be shot down by Ukrainian air defense

In an interview with Channel 24, Ihnat said that the ability to shoot down certain missiles depends on the systems in service in Ukraine.

According to him, Ukraine is unable to shoot down ballistic missiles, including Iskander-M, which the enemy used extensively at the beginning of the war. Currently, the Russian forces have used up the entire strategic stock of Iskander missiles, so they are now using the more outdated Tochka-U systems. The spokesperson noted that air defense is also unable to intercept MLRS, such as Smerch. Ballistic missiles also include S-300, which Russians are actively using in frontline areas.

“All these missiles fly fast - along a ballistic trajectory and actually hit the target at a high speed. In order to shoot down something that is already falling, we need special anti-aircraft missile systems,” Ihnat explained. 

In addition, Ukrainian air defense is currently unable to shoot down Kh-22 missiles because “when approaching the target, it actually dives like a ballistic missile.” He also noted that it was such a missile that demolished a house in Dnipro.

Ihnat said that none of the more than 120 Kh-22 missiles that have been fired since the start of the full-scale aggression have been shot down.

“When a missile is flying at such a high speed and enters the kill zone of an anti-aircraft missile system, our S-300 combat crew, for example, has only up to 40 seconds to detect it with the observation radar, directly capture it with the subsurface radar and launch the missile. This time is physically insufficient for operators of the outdated Soviet system to successfully complete such a task,” the spokesman explained.

In addition, Ukrainian air defense cannot shoot down supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles of the R-800 Oniks coastal-based cruise missiles and hypersonic airborne missiles Kh-47 Kinzhal.

“The complexity of its (Kh-47 - ed.) destruction is several times higher than that of the same Kh-22 due to its much higher flight speed and even shorter response time for equipment and people,” the spokesman said.

He noted that the 'narrow-profile' Kh-31P airborne anti-radar missiles and similar shorter-range air-to-ground missiles can't also be shot down.

Ihnat explained that in order to shoot down all these missiles, Ukraine needs Patriot and FSAF SAMP/T systems. 

Currently, the main systems in service in Ukraine are Buk-M1 and S-300. These are anti-aircraft guided missiles that can shoot down both aircraft and cruise missiles. Thanks to them, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can destroy:

• Kalibr (3M14) - sea-launched cruise missile;

• Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 - air-launched cruise missiles;

• R-500 (9M728) - ground-launched cruise missile from the Iskander-K complex;

• Kh-59 - air-to-ground guided missile;

• Kh-35 - air-, sea-, or shore-based anti-ship missile.

The spokesman also explained that according to international standards, even 305 missiles shot down is considered a successful air defense operation.

• Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said that Russia failed to destroy Ukraine's energy infrastructure in the winter, so now everything can be expected.