10.03.2024
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said it had not found evidence of the destruction of two Patriot launchers near Pokrovsk , Donetsk region, as stated by Russian propagandists and some Western media. The German MAN KAT1 trucks, which were allegedly hit by Islander and which could be used as a base for Patriot, are in fact also used by the Ukrainian military as logistics vehicles.
According to the ISW report, Russian sources “widely” disseminated footage of the Russian strike on March 9, claiming the destruction of the Patriot air defense system in eastern Ukraine, although there is no confirmation of these claims.
In particular, the Russian Ministry of Defense published footage in which it was alleged that Russian troops were striking a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system with Islander missiles near Pokrovsk.
Russian sources, in turn, provided additional footage of the aftermath of the strike, which allegedly shows destroyed German MAN KAT1 trucks, which could be used as a base for Patriot launchers.
According to ISW, Kremlin propagandists used this video to claim the destruction of the Patriot system, although the Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet revised its previous statement about the destruction of the S-300.
The Kremlin agency RIA Novosti reported: a source in Russian law enforcement agencies said that Iskander allegedly destroyed two Patriot complexes.
Several social media OSINT accounts concluded that the strike likely destroyed the Ukrainian Patriot, although one noted that Ukrainian forces also use MAN KAT1 trucks as logistics vehicles.
“ISW has not yet found evidence confirming that Russian forces destroyed the Patriot air defense system,” the analysts’ report said.
Earlier, even some Western media wrote about the attack on the supposed Patriot. As stated in Forbes, Russian troops could for the first time destroy two launchers of this air defense system in Ukraine at once. A Russian UAV allegedly spotted them near the front line during transport, after which the convoy was hit by an Iskander ballistic missile.
The publication writes that replacing two Patriots could take months or even years and cost millions of dollars, since the American company Raytheon is the only manufacturer of these systems.
And Bild journalist Julian Röpke wrote on social media X that the launchers were ten meters apart, less than 40 kilometers from the front – “parked long enough for Russia to fire a short-range ballistic missile at them and destroy both.”
Let us note that this is not the first time that the Russian Federation has announced the alleged destruction of American air defense systems in Ukraine. In May 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense boasted about the alleged defeat of five Patriot systems, although even the Russians did not believe it then.
Later, CNN, citing an American official, wrote that the Patriots were not destroyed, but damaged. US inspectors assessed the damage as minor. Statements about the destruction of these air defense systems were also denied by President Vladimir Zelensky.
As OBOZ.UA reported, on February 19, Italian military expert Thomas Theiner said that the Patriot battery donated to Ukraine by Germany had already shot down 18 Russian aircraft. This is how he commented on another message about the destruction of occupiers’ aircraft in the east.
We have only verified information in our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Don’t be fooled by fakes!
I argued on Twitter that I doubt those were Patriots.
Be it as it may, NO military vehicles should ever be sitting around in the open for an extended period of time, and NO military vehicles should ever be so close together. Those are golden rules that should never be broken. Men and material must be separated by a certain amount of distance, depending on the situation. But, I guess it’s not only the roaches that don’t follow this rule.
It would be very sloppy practice to have 2 Patriots so close together. They must have been stationary for the missile to hit them, so why where they not detecting in a war zone? Of course it’s only the Moskali claiming two Patriots were destroyed, along with the other 10 they have destroyed.
I never doubted you Sir OFP
Let’s hope that the Patriots really were not destroyed … and that the Ukrainians learned a valuable lesson.
Will wonders never cease? The scum sucking orcs are lying? What will become of our world
It would be a miracle if they were to stop lying.
So the Moskali use a $3 million missile to destroy a couple of trucks. No wonder they are claiming they were Patriots, someone will be finding themselves in a meat puppet brigade shortly.
Why? Isn’t screwing up a mafia SOP? 😂
Maybe they were not hit on purpose, or the launchers were parked there temporarily because the operators had no more ammo and they were out of service. We may never know.
Even if two Launchers were hit, the balance, after 18 destroyed Russian aircraft, would still be positive. However, I think these were decoys. By putting two of them so close together, the AFU created an irresistible target for the Russians and the orcs promptly wasted an expensive Iskander ballistic missile on it. Mission accomplished! 😎
Right you are, Mr. Gray.