The statements by Kiev and western countries about the alleged Russian attack on the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra a “concocted fake news,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.
“The West, together with the Kiev regime, concocted another false news — a real fake: French President [Emmanuel] Macron and [French Foreign] Minister [Jean-Noel] Barrot made harsh statements in connection with the fire in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. According to them, it was allegedly attacked by the Russian armed forces. We ‘figured it out’ on the fly. They suddenly remembered about the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Macron and Barrot immediately accused Russia of the alleged attack on the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but the French authorities have not spoken about the deaths in Starobelsk due to the terrorist attack of the Ukrainian armed forces, the diplomat added.
Published at sputnikglobe.com
Сomplex of Buildings at Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Hit By US-Produced Patriot Missile – MoD
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra complex was hit by a missile from Patriot anti-aircraft missile system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
“According to confirmed data, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra complex was hit by a missile from a US Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. One of the reasons for the system’s malfunction could have been that Western countries supplied the Kiev regime with expired missiles,” the statement reads.
The missile may have expired, the Russian Defense Ministry added.
The Russian armed forces neither plan to strike nor actually strike civilian infrastructure facilities, the ministry emphasized.
Russian Defense Ministry Publishes List of Targets From Massive Retaliatory Strike Carried Out Last Night
Kiev Radar Plant JSC — development and production of components for long-range UAVs, as well as the manufacturing and repair of military-grade radar systems
Unmanned Technologies LLC — large-unit assembly of UAVs
Mayak Plant JSC — warheads for UAVs and boosters for Flamingo missiles
The Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio — preparation and calibration/setup of UAVs
Burevestnik Kiev State Plant — short- and long-range UAVs, as well as radar equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Ukr Armor Tech LLC — warheads for UAVs and various types of missiles
Kiev Aggregate Plant and Aircraft Repair Plant No. 410 for Civil Aviation — manufacturing and repair of aircraft turbojet engines, as well as UAV components
Nova Pochta Kiev Innovation Terminal — delivery and storage of dual-use products
Dnepro Electromechanical Equipment Plant PJSC, industrial enterprises in the city of Kharkov— Greenhouse Solution LLC and DT-1 Group LLC — assembly of warheads for UAVs and various types of missiles
Military airfields: Vasylkov, Uman, Cherkasy, and Krasnaya Slobodka
Published at sputnikglobe.com
Old Stock, Operator Error, Blind Spot? What Caused a Patriot to Strike Kiev’s Holiest Orthodox Site
Patriot missile systems are “expensive and fragile,” military analyst Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik, commenting on the overnight incident in which an interceptor struck the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Factors affecting performance:
storage in the right climactic and humidity conditions
whether the interceptor was damaged during transport or storage
the condition of the launcher
competence and complement of fire and maintenance crews – with the latter requiring “at least 90 people”
“We don’t know who services the Patriot launcher from which this missile was launched…As a rule, these launchers are not serviced by Ukrainians, because all the technical documentation, instructions and process charts are written in technical English.” That means they were likely serviced by foreign specialists.
Another factor? The operational performance of PAC-2 and PAC-3s themselves, which Litovkin says is very low in modern conditions.
1.“First, the Patriot has a blind spot from the ground to 100M in the air. Its radar can’t see what’s happening in that zone, because it’s aimed at an angle…Therefore, a low-altitude drone or missile could be flying at that altitude, within that range, and the Patriot wouldn’t see it.”
2.“Second, Patriots aren’t capable of intercepting supersonic missiles, let alone hypersonic ones.”
3.Third, its missiles “are launched at a horizontal angle, [not] straight up like the interceptors on our S-300, S-400 or S-500, which turn toward their target in the air. Patriots fly at a horizontal angle, so if they need to protect a site, batteries must be lined up essentially in a circle around the facility because they don’t turn in the air.”
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