Ukraine struggled with countering Russian ballistic missiles in Apr. 6 attack on Kyiv — aviation expert

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

"Russia regularly revisits its approaches to combat tactics, meaning it can use one type of weapon initially, then switch to another and vice versa. Several factors need to be considered here, for example: the flight time of cruise missiles is up to an hour, sometimes several hours, while ballistic missiles can take up to 5 minutes. In 2022 and 2023, there were instances where ballistic missiles were used first, followed by cruise missiles, and vice versa – ballistic missiles came second. This means that Russia does not have a single approach to using this type of weapon," noted the aviation expert.

According to him, regarding the specifics of the recent attack, there was a relatively low percentage of ballistic target interceptions, less than 20%. This rate, compared to data from 2024, is significantly worse.

"This could be related to several factors. The first factor is the modernization and improvement of Russian missiles to bypass air defense systems. The second is the shortage, for example, of the appropriate types of anti-missiles and launchers to effectively counter such threats," commented Bohdan Dolintse.

• On the morning of April 6, an air raid alert was declared across Ukraine as Russian troops launched cruise and ballistic missiles. As a result of the attack on the capital, one person was killed and several were injured. Ukrainian air defense forces managed to destroy 53 Russian aerial targets.
• Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, reported that 5 Russian ballistic missiles hit targets in the Kyiv region.