Patriot air defence systems already saved thousands of lives – NYT

Patriot air defence systems successfully repel Russian ballistic missiles that could have caused massive losses and destruction.

Source: New York Times

Details: The New York Times spoke with Ukrainian serviceman Volodymyr (he asked to be identified only by his name due to the sensitivity of his unit's operations), who works on the Patriot systems.

He recounted how on 11 December at 04:00, the radar detected an anomaly – it later turned out to be a Russian ballistic missile flying towards Kyiv.

At a time when millions of people were sleeping in their homes and there was no time to turn on an air-raid siren, Ukrainian troops fired several American Patriot missiles. This night was successful for the Ukrainian air defence.

Quote from Volodymyr: "Given that the Patriot is one of the few systems that can effectively shoot down ballistic missiles, and ballistic missiles cause the most casualties, I think the number of lives saved during the war is in the thousands."

More details: The New York Times notes that White House and Pentagon officials have warned that the United States may soon be unable to sustain Ukrainian Patriot missile batteries with interceptor missiles, the cost of which may range from US$2-4 million each. 

Volodymyr recalls that when the first ballistic missile was intercepted on 4 May, everyone was very surprised, but after that, "our confidence in the equipment that our partners provided us grew."

In May and June, during some of the most challenging attacks involving drones, cruise missiles, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles, two Ukrainian Patriot batteries successfully intercepted all 34 ballistic missiles launched by Russia towards Kyiv, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

Volodymyr says that the system is constantly moved from place to place to prevent the Russians from knowing its location.

Quote from Volodymyr: "We managed to create a shield over the state thanks to our foreign partners. But if our foreign partners turn their backs on us, we will return to the beginning of the war, when people simply did not come out of their shelters and the Russians tried to turn our cities into complete ruins."

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