Two Russian anti-missile Pantsir-S1 systems and one OSA anti-aircraft vehicle were damaged or destroyed by Ukraine's Navy in one day, the military branch claimed on Jan. 6.
"Our soldiers continue to turn Russian equipment into scrap metal," Ukrainian Navy Commander Oleksii Neizhpapa said in a Facebook post referring to the three successful attacks.
In his post, Neizhpapa shared a video apparently depicting a drone zeroing in on a Russian Pantsir-S1 vehicle, claiming that the two Pantsir-S1 were destroyed in the occupied territory of Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast.
A Pantsir S-1 has an estimated price tag of around $15 million. One such system is suspected to be behind the mistaken downing of an Azerbaijani plane on Dec. 25, according to the media.
Developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, the 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko according to NATO terminology) is a highly mobile, short-range, low-altitude surface-to-air missile system still in use by Russia, Ukraine, and a dozen other countries.
The Osa has been used with great effect by the Russian Armed Forces against Ukrainian drones, with some experts linking it to Ukraine scaling down the use of its once-popular Bayraktar drones.
The system functions as an all-in-one transporter erector launcher and radar (TELAR) vehicle that can detect and attack enemy targets independently.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the Navy's claims nor the extent of the damage done to the Russian anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.
Russia has lost 1,034 air defense systems since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported before the news of the three successful hits surfaced.
Martin Fornusek
