Did a Patriot air defense system get destroyed in Ukraine?

Russia recently claimed it destroyed a Patriot air defense system that had been supplied to Ukraine but the facts might not align with the story being told by the Kremlin. Here’s what we know about the situation and what each of the governments involved is saying. 

On May 16th, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the country’s military had hit an American-made Patriot air defense system in Ukraine during a missile strike. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry noted that a “high-precision strike” with a hypersonic Kinzhal missile struck the Patriot air defense system in Kyiv according to its official statement. 

On May 17th, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat denied Russia’s claims and said during a news broadcast that a Kinzhal missile could not destroy a Patriot system. 

“Do not worry about the fate of the Patriot. From a technical point of view, Patriot is a … system,” Ihnat was quoted as saying according to a CNN translation of his statement. 

Ihnat went on to explain that the Patriot air defense system is made up of several parts located far away from one another according to CNN’s reporting of his comments, his meaning being that a single missile would not be enough to know out an entire Patriot battery. 

Later that day, however, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that not only was the Patriot system hit by the country’s missile strike, but several of its key components were destroyed. 

Five of the Patriot’s missile launchers had been “completely destroyed” as well as the system’s multifunctional radar station according to the statement from the ministry. 

Reuters reported that two U.S. officials said the Patriot system had been damaged but that it was not destroyed and that all needed repairs were already underway in Ukraine. 

On May 18th, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told European Pravda that the Patriot system in question had been damaged but that it was already repaired 

"I can confirm that one Patriot system was damaged, but it has now been repaired and is fully operational," Singh said in a statement according to a Business Insider report. 

Signh didn’t provide any details as to how the Patriot system was damaged but noted that it had only received minor damage during the Russian missile attack on May 16th. 

Russia’s missile assault on Kyiv on May 16th was one of its most brazen attacks launched yet with Ukraine reportedly intercepting 18 of the projectiles according to The Washington Post.

“Six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles were fired from six MiG-31K aircraft, nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea, and three land-based missiles (S-400, Iskander-M),” Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Twitter as per CNN’s reporting. 

From all the available data it does not seem like the Russian claims about the destroyed Patriot air defense system were true, though it does look like it suffered some minor damage.

According to CNN, Ukraine has only received two Patriot air defense systems so far, one of which was supplied by the United States while the other was given jointly by the Netherlands and Germany.