On the night of July 6, the Ukrainian air defense failed to shoot down any of the 29 Russian missiles flying along a ballistic trajectory due to a lack of interceptors for the Patriot systems. This was stated on television by the representative of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel Yuri Ignat.
“The figure is low, to put it mildly. “To shoot down ballistic missiles, you need to have something. There are enough systems, we need a constant supply of missiles,” Ukrainska Pravda quotes Ignat. “The Russians are taking advantage of the fact that in Ukraine, and throughout the world, there is a serious shortage of PAC2 and PAC3 intercepting missiles.”
Ukrainian Armed Forces: 419 air attack weapons recorded
The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces clarified in Telegram that on the night of July 6, a massive combined strike was launched on Ukraine using attack UAVs, air-, ground- and sea-based missiles of various types. The main direction of attack is Kyiv.
A total of 419 air attack weapons were recorded – 68 missiles and 351 UAVs of various types: 6 3M22 Zircon/Oniks anti-ship missiles, 23 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, 33 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 6 Kalibr cruise missiles, 351 Shahed attack UAVs, “Gerber”, “Italmas” and simulator drones of the “Parody” type.
According to preliminary data, as of 08.30 Kyiv time (which coincides with Moscow time), 363 targets were shot down and suppressed – including 37 missiles and 326 drones of various types: 31 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 6 Caliber cruise missiles, 326 UAVs.
29 ballistic and anti-ship missiles were hit
29 ballistic (including anti-ship) missiles and 18 attack UAVs were recorded at 34 points, as well as falling debris at 16 places.
Two days earlier, on July 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a shortage of interceptor missiles during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and called on its participants to help provide Patriot systems with them. “Ukraine urgently needs interceptor missiles for Patriot. We all know: our partners have them. What is needed now is the political will to provide them. First of all, in the United States,” the Interfax-Ukraine agency quoted him as saying.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised that the issue of strengthening Ukrainian air defense would be discussed at the NATO summit.
“Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defense. We will discuss this issue this week in Ankara at the NATO summit,” she wrote on social network X on the morning of July 6. “Last week we released the first tranche of 4 billion euros as part of our 90 billion euro loan to strengthen Ukraine’s defense with advanced drone technology. More deliveries will follow shortly.”
The NATO summit, during which the issue of further support for Ukraine will be decided, will be held on July 7-8 in Ankara.