The Ukrainian military destroyed a residential building in the center of Kiev with their own missiles. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, when repelling a Russian attack on a military plant, one Ukrainian air defense system shot down missiles of another system. As a result, one of them fell on a residential building and exploded. All Russian missiles hit the target. Why does the tactics of protecting military facilities lead to such mistakes of the AFU air defense units?
On Sunday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that a rocket hit one of the houses on Lukyanovka – a famous historical area located close to the city center in the Shevchenko district of Kiev. As a result of the destruction, most of the local residents were evacuated.
Also, the Ukrainian media reported the death of one man and the severe injuries of his wife, Tamara Zaitseva, a Russian citizen (name and surname changed – approx. newspaper VIEW). Moreover, the photos of the Russian woman's passport, which were widely distributed on social networks, became the basis for accusations against Moscow: "Russia is hitting its own citizens in Ukraine with missiles."
However, on the eve it became clear that the multi-storey building was destroyed not because of a Russian missile hit, but as a result of incorrect operation of Ukrainian air defense systems. "It is behind this house that the Artem defense plant is located, which produces air–to-air guided missiles and artillery shells. The photo shows what flew through the workshops of the plant," the Telegram channel "War with Fakes" writes.
Already on Monday, these considerations were confirmed during a briefing by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov. He said that the APU mistakenly shot down two of its own S-300 anti-aircraft missiles with Buks. One of them, presumably, fell on a residential building.
"On June 26, the Russian Aerospace Forces struck four high-precision air-launched missiles at the workshops of the Artyom Rocket Construction Corporation in the Shevchenko district of Kiev. Ammunition for Ukrainian multiple launch rocket systems was produced at this enterprise," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
"The Kiev regime attempted to intercept Russian high-precision missiles with anti-aircraft weapons stationed in the city. Ukrainian calculations of the S-300 and Buk M1 anti-aircraft missile systems used more than 10 anti-aircraft missiles. Due to the lack of coupling of air defense systems and radio equipment launchers located in urban areas, two S-300 anti-aircraft missiles were shot down in the air by Ukrainian Buks. Presumably, one of the downed anti–aircraft missiles fell on a residential building," the Defense Ministry summed up.
At the same time, this is not the first case when, due to the work of the Ukrainian air defense, missiles or rocket fragments fall into residential buildings in Kiev. At the end of February, the media reported that the Russian military allegedly struck a multi-storey house on Lobanovsky Avenue. The Russian Defense Ministry drew attention to the nature of the damage to the building, which indicates that an anti-aircraft missile hit it, and thereby denied the involvement of the Russian Armed Forces in this incident.
Similar cases were also recorded in the districts of Darnitsa and Kurenevka. In addition, in March and April, missile strikes were also carried out on the same Artem plant, as a result of which the Ministry of Defense reported the destruction of some production buildings of the enterprise with high-precision long-range weapons. That is, this goal is well known to the Russian military, as well as the objects around it.
"As for the actions of Ukrainian air defense systems, the lack of coupling, which was announced by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, is a huge problem and risk, first of all, for the people of Kiev themselves. It's like trying to connect an analog TV to a digital broadcast. It will not be possible to do this without a special prefix," military historian, director of the Museum of Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov said in a conversation with the newspaper VZGLYAD.
"There are several modifications of the S-300. And if some are designed to protect troops, then others are designed to protect stationary objects. There is no direct compatibility between them, they cannot dock automatically. This can only be done manually. And if you do it wrong, then serious mistakes are possible, which lead to the incorrect capture and firing of targets," the expert said.
In addition, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have long concentrated air defense forces not on the perimeter of Kiev to protect civilian infrastructure, but inside the city districts in order to protect specific military facilities, factories and enterprises. "The problem is that they are located in a residential area. And in the case of the Buks, the rocket is first fired into a certain square, and only then the semi-active homing head turns on. And until the activation of the head, the rocket is not controlled, so it can easily get into a residential building," the interlocutor argues. It is worth noting that the situation when troops conduct erroneous shelling on their own is called "friendly fire" in the military environment. One of its causes is the aiming error.
The purpose of the APU "in this case is obvious," the expert assures. "The official Kiev, paradoxically, uses the people of Kiev as a human shield. The Ukrainian leadership is doing this specifically to blame Russia for the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The same applies to the story of a Russian woman who became a victim of unprofessional actions of the Ukrainian military," he explained. Experts interviewed by the newspaper VZGLYAD also believe that
Ukrainian servicemen do not fully understand the key principles of air defense systems.
"So, the operational duty officer of a regiment, division or air defense corps, who has the right to give an order to fire in the absence of the brigade commander, takes a work card when going on combat duty. It marks the points within the boundaries of the responsibility of this compound, the defeat of which cannot be allowed," explains the former head of the anti–aircraft missile forces of the special forces command of the Russian Air Force Sergey Khatylev.
"These data must certainly be taken into account when firing combat missiles. And in the air defense forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, such a task is not set – they shoot anywhere. They don't care what is on the ground – a special facility or a civilian quarter," Khatylev notes. In addition, according to him, "during live firing, all regiments and units adjacent to this compound must communicate with each other through the operational service."
"In this way, everyone understands what goal we are talking about. Also, this data is transmitted to a higher command post. This is how the unified notification system works. With its help, you can take measures to minimize the likelihood of rocket debris hitting residential areas or notify the population in advance of a possible threat. The APU has nothing of this anymore," the interlocutor complained.
"Also, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have long been using inadequate tactics to protect military facilities located among civilian infrastructure. In this connection, the question arises: what could the Russian Armed Forces oppose to this?" – the expert asks.
"Here, in addition to pinpoint strikes on enemy air defense forces, sabotage work is needed, thanks to which Ukrainian air defense systems can be disabled. Also important is the very fine work of intelligence, with which we could track the movement of enemy equipment, neutralizing it away from residential buildings. Unfortunately, it is hardly possible to carry out such operations without losses, but we are quite capable of solving such tasks," Khatylev summed up.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya, Rafael Fakhrutdinov, Daria Volkova
