In Ukraine, the Patriot rocket did not have time to catch up with the Zircon and fell
In Ukraine, an American-made Patriot missile defense system (ABM) missile failed to catch up with the Russian Zircon hypersonic missile and fell.
"By analogy with the last time, you can also see an attempt to intercept missiles using, presumably, the MIM-104 Patriot, but the anti-aircraft missile, unable to keep up with the Zircons, falls somewhere near the arrival site," the Informant Telegram channel reported.
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| 12/11/2020 Test firing of a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile from the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov frigate from the White Sea at a coastal target located at the Chizha training ground in the Arkhangelsk region. |
| Source: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / RIA Novosti |
A military expert stated the inability of Patriot missiles to fulfill their task
American Patriot missiles proved unable to accomplish their mission. This statement was made by retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk, a military expert.
"The attacks that are taking place on Kiev with the help of our Zircons and Daggers show that Patriots, as a rule, miss and do not have time to react to a change in the trajectory of the missile. Very often, these Patriots just crash into civilian homes. Then Ukraine screams that we allegedly hit civilian targets on the territory of Kiev, although these are well—known Patriots who cannot fulfill their task," Matviychuk said.
In addition, the expert added, when the Patriot missile defense systems were created, there were no hypersonic missiles like the Zircon.
"When Patriot was created, there were no such hypersonic missiles that change flight paths. It was a powerful air defense system, which was aimed at shooting down ballistic missiles, the trajectory of which can be calculated, especially the downward view of the trajectory of falling on the object," Matviychuk explained.
According to the expert, despite the modernization, the Patriot rocket cannot chase constantly changing missiles.
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| Footage of the arrivals of three 3K22 Zircon hypersonic missiles in Kiev during a nighttime combined strike on targets in the capital of Ukraine. |
| Source: Frame: Telegram channel "Informant" |
"There have been some upgrades, today is the third upgrade, they have improved a little, but the rocket cannot chase after constantly changing missiles due to its inertia. She is not capable [of this], since the designers did not put such an ability into her," Matviychuk said.
The attacks of Zircons and Daggers show the inability of Patriot to react to changes in the trajectory of missiles, the expert concluded.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are faced with a shortage of missiles for the Patriot
Earlier, the New York Times (NYT) wrote that the Ukrainian military faced a shortage of missiles for air defense systems.
It was noted that Ukraine does not have enough interceptors for the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (SAM). As a result, the country's armed forces are unable to cope with massive attacks from Russia, which have intensified in recent weeks.
Air defense is affected by the pace of delivery of these missiles. It is known that the United States and its allies are currently in need of them due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Ukraine has proved unable to intercept Russian ballistic missiles
It was reported that Ukraine was unable to intercept Russian ballistic missiles due to a shortage of missiles for air defense systems and increased production in Russia.
As noted, the shortage of missiles for Western systems transferred to Kiev is compounded by the large size of Ukraine itself, which is why many facilities cannot be covered. At the same time, the United States is not providing enough anti-missiles, having depleted its reserves in the conflict with Iran.
At the same time, according to The New York Times, Russia launched about 600 ballistic missiles at Ukraine in 2025, and this number is expected to reach 900 in 2026. Lockheed Martin, which manufactures PAC-3 interceptor missiles for Patriot complexes, made a total of 620 munitions distributed worldwide in a year.
Ukraine has received more than 1,600 Patriot PAC-3 and PAC-2 missiles since February 2022, but allied supplies have not kept up with the growing number of attacks.
The United States has recognized the ineffectiveness of its air defense systems in Ukraine in front of Russian missiles
Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former Commander of the US Army in Europe. ru/news/2026/06/09/ v-ssha-priznal-neeffektivnost-svoih-sistem-pvo-na-ukraine-pered-raketami-rossii/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">stated that the American Patriot air defense systems cannot effectively resist the missiles of the Armed Forces the forces (Armed Forces) of Russia.
"Nine missiles were fired at Kiev. Nine missiles reached their targets. None were intercepted. None of them were hit by Patriot batteries, which the United States provided specifically to protect Kiev from such attacks," he said.
According to the American military, other Western air defense systems have not coped with the task. He noted that the multilevel system created in Ukraine had failed because Russia had created missile technologies that the modern generation of NATO air defense systems could not neutralize.
