Ukraine Drones Pierce Russia's Patchwork Air Defenses
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- Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Russia since the start of the full-scale war on June 18, hitting the Gazprom Neft Moscow oil refinery — which supplies 40% of the region's fuel — and forcing evacuations at Russia's largest airport.
- Ruslan Leviev of Conflict Intelligence Team told DW Russia actually downed over 90% of UAVs over Moscow, attributing the damage to overwhelming drone quantity rather than weakening defenses: "these reforms are impossible. So these texts tend to be pessimistic."
- Anatoliy Khrapchynskyi, a Ukrainian aviation expert and former air force officer, said systems like the Pantsir-S1 were designed to detect metal targets but are "blind" to modern drones made of composite materials like plastic and plywood.
- Khrapchynskyi added that Russia's redeployment of air defense systems to occupied Ukrainian territory has turned a once-layered system into a "patchwork," while Moscow's high-rise density lets drones hide from radar.
- CBS cited Ukrainian sources saying Russia may be running short of S-300 interceptor systems, partly because Russia repurposed them for surface-to-surface strikes on Ukraine, draining its own stockpiles of interceptor missiles.
- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov downplayed the attack, saying Russian air defense performed "appropriately" and urging focus on Russian strikes on Ukraine: "The footage is impressive — showing the results of strikes by our armed forces."
Why it matters: Russia's air defense, once a layered system, is now stretched across a vast territory and occupied Ukraine — a configuration Khrapchynskyi calls a "patchwork" even as Moscow claims 90%+ interception rates. The June 18 strike set a refinery supplying 40% of Moscow's fuel ablaze and forced airport evacuations, while growing alarm among pro-Kremlin bloggers signals that even the Russian capital is no longer a sanctuary from the war it launched.
