Ukrainian advisor: It takes a lot of Patriot bullets to stop an Iskander-M missile

“One of the main problems facing Ukraine is Russian ballistic missiles, it is not a secret that only the Patriot complex can take them down. Patriot has a certain successful interception rate thanks to its specific algorithm, but many missiles must be used to take down one target,” Serhii Beskrestnov, advisor to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, said on February 25.

According to Mr. Beskrestnov, the current long-term war of attrition related to ballistic missiles is a race between Russia’s manufacturing capacity and the speed at which the West provides Patriot ammunition to Ukraine.

“All of the Russian ballistic missiles that recently attacked Ukraine were manufactured late last year and early this year, meaning they brought weapons straight from the production line to the launch pad. 90% of Iskander-M missile components are produced in Russia and they are shipping about 60 shells per month. Russia also uses converted S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missiles in attacks,” Mr. Beskrestnov said.

Ukrainian adviser warns of the risk that the West will not be able to provide missiles for the Patriot complex for a long time, due to limited military resources. He said that Ukraine needs to develop its own defense system, as well as limit Russia’s financial resources to reduce ballistic missile production.

The West has provided Ukraine with many modern air defense systems, the most powerful of which are Patriot and SAMP/T. The Ukrainian Patriot system is equipped with the most modern PAC-3 MSE missiles produced by the US, with an average price of 4 million USD each and the ability to intercept ballistic missiles at a distance of 60 km.

However, Ukraine’s air defense network has recently been overloaded and depleted of ammunition, and many Patriot complexes were also targeted and destroyed by Russia. Ukrainian officials admit that the country’s air defense faces serious challenges due to the loss of interceptor missiles faster than the speed of aid from partners.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on February 26 that Ukraine blocked most of Russia’s attacks thanks to partners quickly transferring part of the air defense missiles committed at the Ramstein conference last week.

Ukraine’s leaders previously criticized European countries as the cause of the country’s shortage of anti-aircraft missiles, leading to a situation where units specializing in dealing with ballistic missiles ran out of weapons. Sheet Financial Times Citing two unnamed officials familiar with the situation, Mr. Zelensky’s accusations were inaccurate.