Russia has upgraded its ballistic missiles to more easily penetrate Ukrainian air defenses. As a result, the effectiveness of Ukraine’s Patriot batteries—the only weapons that Ukraine has with the capability to intercept ballistic missiles—is collapsing. According to an Oct. 2 Financial Times report, this is due to changes in missile flight profiles made by the Russians. The missiles now follow a typical trajectory before diverting and plunging into a steep terminal dive or executing maneuvers that “confuse and avoid” Patriot interceptors, FT reports. It is a “game-changer for Russia,” said one former Ukrainian official. Ukraine’s ballistic missile interception rate improved over the summer, reaching 37% in August, but it plummeted to 6% in September, despite fewer launches, according to public Ukrainian air force data compiled by the London-based Centre for Information Resilience and analyzed by Financial Times.
Ukraine’s air force on Oct. 1 reported all four Iskander-M missiles fired overnight had eluded the country’s defenses and hit their targets. At least four drone-making plants in and around Kyiv were badly damaged by missiles this summer, said current and former Ukrainian officials. This included a strike on August 28 on a facility producing Turkish Bayraktar drones, according to public posts by local officials.
