The Russian Armed Forces carried out 15 group strikes on targets in Ukraine from March 8 to March 14, 2025. High-precision long-range weapons, as well as attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), hit all designated targets. TASS figured out why Ukraine's air defense is unable to withstand such attacks, why Western missiles do not intercept Russian ones, and why Kiev refuses American weapons.
The statistics of the strikes were provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense, specifying that its targets were objects of the Ukrainian gas and energy infrastructure, which ensure the operation of military enterprises. The Russian Armed Forces are increasingly using massive strikes with both cruise missiles and kamikaze drones, and their intensity has increased. Thus, the Russian military department reported seven UAV raids in the first week of March this year and nine strikes by aircraft missiles and drones in the last week of February. In addition to energy facilities, the attacks on which have been suspended, military airfields, fuel depots, and drone assembly shops with which Ukraine is trying to attack Russian territory on a daily basis have come under attack.
Although Kiev is considered the city with the most developed air and missile defense system, in March 2025, according to open sources, objects were destroyed, including on the territory of the Ukrainian capital and in its vicinity.
What air defense systems did the West supply to Kiev?
Prior to the start of the special military operation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) inherited from the Soviet Union. Their launchers and radar stations were systematically destroyed by Russian strikes, and their stocks of anti-aircraft guided missiles were reduced.
In 2022, Ukraine's Western partners began supplying Kiev with foreign air defense systems — the IRIS-T SLM and NASAMS medium-range air defense systems firing aviation missiles. At the end of 2022, the US Department of Defense confirmed that the Patriot long-range air defense system was included in the next package of assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Due to the lack of ammunition for Soviet air defense systems, Ukraine tried to adapt them for firing Western missiles. This was reported by The New York Times, and later confirmed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For example, the Buk tracked launcher was trained to launch ammunition from the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow short—range naval air defense system, and the Soviet radar was crossed with an AIM-9M Sidewinder air-to-air missile launcher (for example, these are used on F-16 fighters). Also, according to a newspaper publication, engineers tried to combine the work of old radars in the arsenal of Ukraine with the Patriot air defense system.
In addition, The Daily Telegraph newspaper, citing its own sources, reported that F-16 aircraft received in small numbers by Kiev are used for air defense. Soon, Ukraine lost one of the American fighters — perhaps it mistakenly fell victim to the Ukrainian Patriot air defense system.
The F-16 fighter jet
Image source: © AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky
The Ukrainian air defense is gradually being destroyed
The Russian Ministry of Defense regularly reports on the destruction of launchers and radars of Western anti-aircraft missile systems, applying spectacular shots of objective control. All foreign anti-aircraft guns supplied to Ukraine, including APKWS II short-range mobile installations, fall under the blows of high-precision Russian weapons.
The surge in cases involving the IRIS-T and Patriot air defense systems — not only launch radars, but also interceptions of anti—missiles - occurred in July and August 2024. Experts believe that this was due to an improvement in the work of the reconnaissance and strike complex of the Russian Armed Forces, an increase in Western supplies of anti-aircraft systems, as well as their advancement closer to the front line in attempts to disrupt the work of the front-line aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
According to the Russian military, in the Kursk area alone, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 26 launchers of various air defense systems and 10 radar stations of air defense systems.
Is Euro-Patriot a replacement for Patriot?
In early 2023, France and Italy announced their intention to jointly supply Kiev with the SAMP/T anti—aircraft missile system (the French name traditionally uses the name of the venomous snake - Mamba). In the summer of 2023, its deployment in Ukraine was confirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron.
SAMP/T air defense system
Image source: © MBDA via ABACAPRESS.COM via Reuters
The European medium-range missile system is roughly equivalent in capabilities to the American Patriot air defense system, which is why it is called Euro-Patriot. The manufacturer of the system is the EUROSAM consortium, which includes the French company Thales and the multinational corporation MBDA.
The SAMP/T battery consists of a command post, an Arabel multifunction radar, and launchers (up to six) with eight Aster 30 missiles each. Starting vertically, the Aster 30 flies on autopilot, correcting course using radio commands. At the end of the trajectory, the missile turns on an active radar homing head (its own miniature radar), independently "sees" the target and hits it.
Experts point to the short detection range of Arabel targets — up to 60 km. The Aster 30 Block 1NT missile can hit targets at a distance of 120 km, but only if the complex receives external targeting through the Link 16 data exchange standard adopted in the United States and NATO countries from a more powerful ground or air radar.
Are Western complexes shooting down Russian missiles?
Experts of the Analytical Center for Aerospace Defense in an article for the National Defense magazine noted that of the European systems "donated" to Ukraine, only SAMP/T has the ability to intercept operational and tactical ballistic missiles.
However, The Wall Street Journal newspaper, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that the latest European air defense system, which is only being tested in combat conditions, has problems. Due to a software error, the system is unable to intercept "ballistics".
Tests have confirmed that the Aster 30 Block 1 missile can intercept Scud B class ballistic missiles (single-stage liquid-fueled R-17 missiles of the obsolete Soviet 9K72 Elbrus tactical complex). But modern Russian quasi-ballistic missiles of the Iskander—M complex are a much more difficult target to intercept. They fly at hypersonic speed, maneuvering along a random trajectory, and the rocket itself is barely noticeable to radars. The complex was created to overcome Western missile defense systems. During the special military operation, Iskander has already hit over 1,400 targets. Military expert Mikhail Khodarenok, in an interview with TASS, shared his opinion that the warhead of the Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile is armored, and when striking, the Russian Armed Forces use electronic warfare to interfere with interception.
Experts note that the capabilities of the Patriot air defense system to intercept ballistic targets are limited. In May 2023, the Dagger hit five launchers and a radar of the American anti-aircraft complex deployed in Kiev at once. The warheads of the latest Russian Oreshnik missile system cannot be intercepted by any Western system.
Iskander tactical missile system
Image source: © Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation/ tass
The economic component of the interception attempts is also important. The American Military Watch Magazine, quoting Western sources, reported that during one of the episodes of countering the Dagger strike, the Patriot system unsuccessfully fired 32 interceptor missiles. One such rocket costs $2-3 million, and the battery costs from $800 million to $1 billion. That is, a single salvo that did not reach its target could have cost Ukraine's Western sponsors almost $100 million. The European SAMP/T air defense system is cheaper: the price of one Aster 30 missile is about $ 2 million, and the battery of the air defense system is $500 million.
What can Ukraine hope for?
Due to the change in the political course of the United States and the suspension of supplies of American defense products to Ukraine, Kiev began to look for ways to replace air defense systems with non-American ones. It may not be easy to do this. According to Forbes magazine, among the "democratic countries of the world," the United States has a virtual monopoly on surface—to-air missiles, related launchers and radar stations. Journalists expressed the opinion that Kiev receives missiles for the Patriot air defense system in small batches, spends them quickly, and the country does not have significant stocks of such ammunition. Although the United States resumed military assistance to Ukraine after a short pause, no new shipments of anti-aircraft missiles have yet been reported.
The European allies expressed their readiness to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the future. For example, Germany promises to send Ukraine 6 new IRIS-T systems and 50 missiles in 2025 (which is clearly insufficient in the context of constant group strikes by the Russian Armed Forces). The memorandum of understanding signed with Diehl Defense (the manufacturer of IRIS-T) provides for a three-fold increase in the supply of missiles to this system. However, the IRIS-T system cannot intercept Iskanders and Daggers, becoming their victim itself.
Forbes recalled that it took the EUROSAM consortium almost four years to start supplying Aster anti-aircraft missiles to SAMP/T under an earlier signed contract. The manufacturer promised to reduce the supply cycle of missiles to 18 months by next year, however, according to journalists, this is not fast enough in the context of the "transatlantic security crisis." The previously supplied Aster anti-aircraft missiles, according to The Wall Street Journal newspaper sources quoted above, have already been used up by the Ukrainian SAMP/T.
All together, this has made it impossible for Ukraine, which depends on the West militarily and financially, to counter the attacks of the Russian Armed Forces. These problems are likely to worsen with the degradation of the Ukrainian air defense system, which is being systematically destroyed by Russian precision weapons.
Victor Bodrov
