Drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hit a Russian S-400 Triumph air defense system near the Russian city of Belgorod, several Ukrainian media outlets reported on Oct. 4, citing sources in the SBU.

The strike was reportedly carried out at night. In videos on Russian Telegram channels, allegedly taken in Belgorod and published in the early hours of Oct. 4, the sounds of explosions can be heard over the city.

The SBU sources did not elaborate on the extent of damage done to the air defense system.

Russia claimed that its forces shot down 31 Ukrainian drones overnight over Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk oblasts.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod Oblast, reported that three aerial targets were downed over the Grayvoron district, resulting in damage to civilian infrastructure.

This is not the first reported attack by the SBU against a modern S-400 system worth around $1.2 billion.

Another such system was allegedly destroyed in Yevpatoriia in Crimea on Sept. 14 in a joint operation by the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy.

On Aug. 23, the Ukrainian military reported that yet another S-400 system had been destroyed near the village of Olenivka on Cape Tarkhankut in the occupied peninsula.

Uncertain Triumph: Ukraine picks apart Russia’s best air defenses in Crimea

The past month has not been kind to Russia’s forces in occupied Crimea. In a span of weeks, a ship, a submarine, and multiple air defense systems were destroyed. Ukraine said these targets included Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, optimistically named the Triumph. Purported videos of…

The Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov