Ihnat told how the AFU air defense system is preparing for missile and shaheed attacks
26 May 22:39
The Ukrainian Air Force predicts the directions of possible missile strikes by Russian troops and adjusts air defense in advance. This was stated by the spokesman of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ihnat on the air of the telethon “United News”, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
How the Ukrainian military anticipates attacks
According to Ihnat, although the enemy determines the trajectory of missiles, the Ukrainian defense forces – in particular the Air Force – use intelligence and analytics to predict the direction of attacks. This allows them to reconfigure the air defense system before the attack and respond more effectively to the threat.
“We can predict where the enemy will try to strike and adjust the location of air defense assets accordingly,” Ihnat explained.
Where does the information for the forecast come from?
According to the representative of the Air Force, the analytics is based on data from various sources, including the activity of Russian strategic aviation at Russian airfields and in the Black Sea. This allows for timely detection of preparations for a strike and increased combat readiness of air defense units.
The air defense system is on full combat alert
Yuriy Ihnat emphasized that each missile attack is accompanied by a quick response from the air defense system – there is time to activate the systems, prepare the systems for launch and hit the targets, as it happened during the next attack.
“When missiles are launched, there is a certain amount of time to bring the systems into combat readiness. This is what allows us to repel attacks and reduce losses,” he emphasized.
Patriot in defense of Ukraine
Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the Patriot system has taken on a new meaning. It has been used so intensively against modern Russian missiles, such as the Kinzhal ballistic missiles, for the first time and has demonstrated high effectiveness. This has sharply increased global interest in the Patriot: a number of countries have ordered additional batteries, and the manufacturer, Raytheon Corporation (RTX), has increased production of PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles to 500 per year (with plans to reach 650 per year in 2027).
As of the spring of 2025, Ukraine has received about 7-8 full-fledged Patriot batteries of various configurations, which has significantly strengthened the country’s missile shield. However, even this is not enough – it is estimated that up to 25 batteries are needed to fully cover the territory. That is why the Ukrainian side constantly talks about the need for more Patriots, but these calls are met with the position that “we need such a system ourselves.”
Therefore, Kommersant Ukrainian tried to analyze how many working Patriot systems there are in the world, how many of them are with partners, and how many of them Ukraine can actually get. If at all.
