Russia's upgraded ballistic missiles harder to intercept by Patriots, Air Force says

Russia has upgraded its ballistic missiles with radar decoys and evasive maneuvers, making them potentially harder to intercept even by Patriot air defenses, Ukraine's Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on May 24 after a massive attack on Kyiv that injured around a dozen civilians.

Ihnat confirmed that six out of nine ballistic missiles launched at Kyiv, Iskander-M and KN-23, were successfully intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses.

"Two-thirds is a high figure," he said. "But we know (Russia) is improving its ballistic weapons."

According to Ihnat, the modified missiles are now equipped with radar-decoy systems and use quasi-ballistic flight paths that make them more difficult to track and intercept using Patriot systems.

"It complicates (the interception), but doesn’t make the interception impossible," he added. "I think our partners are already working to improve the system's capabilities."

"The flight of a ballistic missile along such a quasi-ballistic trajectory — when the missile doesn't just fly in a straight line like it's falling, but actually performs maneuvers in flight — makes it more difficult for the Patriot system, which calculates the interception point using software, to predict exactly where the missile will be," Ihnat explained.

The attack on Kyiv came just hours after the start of the largest prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Explosions and drone debris caused multiple fires and widespread damage across the capital.

Air defenses downed six ballistic missiles and neutralized 245 out of 250 Shahed-type drones using missiles and electronic warfare, the Air Force said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said residential buildings, cars, and businesses were hit in multiple districts.

"Sadly, there are injuries," Zelenesky wrote on X. Most of the reported casualties were due to shock or falling debris.

Local officials said fires broke out in several districts, including one in a nine-story residential building. The attack also injured three residents in Kyiv Oblast.

Speaking on Ukraine’s Gunsmith Day on April 12, Strategic Industries Minister Herman Smetanin said Kyiv has also significantly ramped up weapons manufacturing over the past year, producing its own missiles. According to Smetanin, Ukraine increased cruise missile production eightfold in 2024 compared to 2023.

Russia ‘hasn’t faced enough pressure’ —Ukrainian, foreign diplomats react to overnight attack on Kyiv

“Russia’s continued aggression has a simple explanation: it hasn’t faced enough pressure to stop. The power to change that lies with us,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said.

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir