A Russian Drone Spotted A Ukrainian Patriot Air-Defense Crew Convoying Near The Front Line. Soon, A Russian Hypersonic Missile Streaked Down.
Ukraine just lost its first Patriot launchers, and probably their crews.
A Russian drone operator’s persistence and good fortune paid off on or right before Saturday, when they located—outside of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine—a Ukrainian convoy including, it seems, at least two truck-mounted quad-launchers for a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery.
...
It was the first time in Russia’s two-year wider war on Ukraine that the Russians have managed to find and target part of a Ukrainian Patriot battery. And for the Russians, the hit couldn’t have come at a more pivotal time.
Ukrainian Patriot batteries in the last month have shot down as many as a dozen Russian air force fighter-bombers, blunting Russia’s aerial advantage as the wider war grinds into its third year.
...
However overextended Ukraine’s air-defenders were before the Russians blew up two of their Patriot launchers and likely killed their experienced crews, the air-defenders are even more overextended now. And they may struggle to replace those lost launchers.
...
No, Ukraine tends to get its Patriot batteries and missiles as donations. And while Germany, The Netherlands or some other European operator could gift more hardware, it’s most expedient for it to come from the source. The United States.
But Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. Congress have, since October, been blocking further U.S. aid to Ukraine. So every Patriot launcher the Ukrainians lose is a Patriot launcher they can’t easily replace.