US says Patriot air defence system may have been damaged but not destroyed by Russian strike - CNN

The US Patriot system was probably damaged but not destroyed by Russian missiles fired at Kyiv and its surroundings in the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 16. But the US is still assessing the extent of the damage.

A US official told CNN. According to the official, it is now necessary to determine whether the system should be completely shut down or whether the Ukrainians will simply repair it on site.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported on Tuesday that "a high-precision strike by a Kinzhal hypersonic missile on the city of Kyiv allegedly hit a US-made Patriot air defence system".

For their part, Ukrainian officials said they had successfully intercepted all six hypersonic missiles fired by the occupiers, but the Ukrainian military refused to comment on the Russian claim that the Patriot system had been hit.

"We cannot comment on this. We will not comment on Russian sources," said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Serhiy Ihnat.

Ukraine currently has two Patriot air defence systems in service, one provided by the US and the other jointly provided by Germany and the Netherlands. It is unclear which of these systems was potentially damaged.

Russia has already targeted these systems with hypersonic missiles, including once on May 4. According to US officials, that attack failed, and the Ukrainians successfully intercepted the missile before it could hit the Patriot.

However, US officials believe that the Russians were able to pick up signals coming from the SAM, which allowed them to target the system with a hypersonic missile.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, on Tuesday night, May 16, the terrorist country of Russia launched a powerful strike on Kyiv using Kinzhal and Kalibr missiles. Thanks to the work of air defence units, all air targets were destroyed, but the debris damaged the property of citizens and, in particular, broke trees in the zoo.

Recall that on Tuesday, May 16, the roof of a private house was damaged as a result of the falling debris of downed Russian missiles. Fortunately, the residents of the region were not injured.

During the Russian shelling, the occupiers monitor the work of air defence in Kyiv through CCTV cameras on YouTube. In particular, after the latest shelling, the Russians posted a video of today's air defence operations in Kyiv.

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