By all standards, if air defense shoots down 30% of cruise missiles, this is already considered a success. Ukraine can shoot down only those missiles that allow the systems in service.

This was told to Channel 24 in an exclusive interview by the speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Yuri Ignat .

Which missiles are capable of shooting down in Ukraine and which are not

The main complexes in service with Ukrainian air defense are the old Buk-M1 and S-300. There are also planes – “MiG” and “Su”, notes Yuri Ignat.

Thanks to them, Ukraine can shoot down such enemy missiles:

• “Caliber” (3M14) – a sea-based cruise missile (the enemy attacks from the Black Sea with it – Channel 24),
• Kh-101 / Kh-555 / Kh-55 – air-launched cruise missiles,
• R-500 (9M728) – ground-based cruise missile from the Iskander-K complex (similar to “Caliber”),
• X-59 – guided air-to-ground missile,
• Kh-35 is an air, sea or coastal anti-ship missile.

At the same time, our air defense does not have the ability to shoot down ballistic missiles. For example, Iskander-M, which the Russians actively used at the beginning of the war. Are the Tochka-U complexes that hit the Kramatorsk railway station outdated?

The Ukrainian Defense Forces cannot intercept MLRS missiles such as Smerch. The Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missile, used from MiG-31K aircraft, is also immune to Ukrainian air defense.

Although the X-22 missile is classified as a cruise missile, its speed is 4-5 thousand kilometers per hour. It is launched from a very high altitude, and when entering the target, it actually dives like ballistics. This missile has a deadly warhead weighing 950 kg. It was she who demolished the house in the Dnieper and the shopping center in Kremenchug. the speaker adds.

Note! None of the more than 120 Kh-22 missiles fired since the start of the full-scale aggression has been shot down. In order to shoot them down, Ukraine needs an anti-aircraft missile system that can operate in automatic mode (it will independently make decisions without human intervention – with the latest radar and a modern missile).

Will the Russians change their strike tactics?

• Since September 2022, the Russians have focused on destroying Ukraine's critical infrastructure, primarily energy. However, with the arrival of spring and warmth, the tactics of the Russians may change, says Yuri Ignat.
• The invaders failed to “freeze” the Ukrainians – their sinister plan failed here. It is not advisable to continue the same strategy, because it is not effective in warm weather. At the same time, on March 9, the enemy made perhaps the largest attack with “Daggers” in the entire time of a full-scale invasion in order to achieve at least some visible “successes”.
• So far, it is difficult to predict the strategy of the Russians. It depends on how much the sanctions and their observance/non-compliance will affect the military arsenal of the aggressor country.