![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/354000_355000/354122_BLOG-andrusiv_new_80x50_0.webp)
Ukrainian military expert explains how Russia could destroy two Patriot launchers
Ukraine has probably lost two Patriot launchers for the first time. Russia targeted a part of a Ukrainian Patriot battery with an Iskander hypersonic ballistic missile
Ivan Stupak, a military expert and member of the Security Service of Ukraine in 2004-2015, shared the statement on the Espreso TV channel.
"A Russian drone that was patrolling this territory, can fly 40-50 km deep into Ukraine, possibly more. It saw and spotted the Ukrainian crew, a Patriot, and transmitted the command and coordinates. Then a swift strike was launched with an Iskander ballistic missile. Everything happened in a matter of minutes," he said.
There is information on the Internet that the commander of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Mykola Oleshchuk, has been dismissed, Stupak said.
"If this is confirmed, then we can directly state that we have lost the Patriot. And Mr. Oleshchuk resigned from his post precisely because of the loss of Patriot. We do not know whether it was one launcher or two. But the big loss is the crew, the people who were in those launchers," he added.
- On March 9, the Russian Ministry of Defense released footage of what it claimed was the destruction of a Ukrainian S-300 missile launcher near Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. However, OSINT analysts and the media later suggested that the video showed a Patriot.
- Western media and OSINT analysts looked into the Russian video of the attack on the Ukrainian convoy. International journalists believe that Ukraine may have lost two launchers of the US Patriot air defense system for the first time.
- News
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/354000_355000/354000_3255_new_80x50_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/239000_240000/239345_mariupol-ocup-water_gettyimages_new_80x50_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/350000_351000/350336_zsu11_GeneralStaff.ua_new_80x50_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/346000_347000/346983_mobilna-grupa-ppo-foto-komanduvannya-os_new_80x50_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/305000_306000/305784_GettyImages-1676401233_new_80x50_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/311000_312000/311453_Pusk_raket_ATACMS_po_rashistam_v_nich_na_17_zhovtna_2023_roku_skrin-shot_z_video_dzherelo_Golovnokomanduvach_ZSU_Zaluzhnij_new_80x50_0.webp)