Ukraine denied on Wednesday that a Russian hypersonic missile had destroyed a US-made Patriot missile defence system during an airstrike on Kyiv.
Russia’s defence ministry made the assertion on Tuesday after an overnight air attack on the Ukrainian capital. Two US officials later said a Patriot system had probably suffered damage but that it did not appear to have been destroyed.
“I want to say: do not worry about the fate of the Patriot,” Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television.
He ruled out the possibility of a Russian “Kinzhal” missile knocking out a Patriot system.
“Destroying the system with some kind of ‘Kinzhal’, it’s impossible. Everything that they say there, it can remain in their propaganda archive,” Reuters reports he said.