Patriot SAM already opens score with downed Russian aircraft and helicopters

3 July, 2023 The launcher of the Ukrainian Patriot air defense system received from Germany in June 2023 The crew of the Ukrainian Patriot air defense system have boasted of downed Russian aircraft and helicopters. The Air Force published a video in which they roamed about how the Ukrainian air defense destroyed air targets of the invaders on a daily basis.

Footage of the results of engagement was shown on the Anti-Aircraft Missile Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Day. One of the frames portrays victory marks of the Patriot air defense system, transferred to the Armed Forces by Western allied countries. In particular, among the targets destroyed by SAM there are 2 shot down combat aircraft and 3 Russian helicopters dated May 13, 2023.

The number of Russian planes and helicopters destroyed by the Patriot air defense system as of the beginning of July 2023, a frame from the video of the Ukrainian Air Forces

This date coincides with the "black day" for Russian military aviation.

Then propaganda media of the aggressor state reported that on the afternoon of May 13 in the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation two Mi-8 helicopters, a Su-35 fighter and a Su-34 bomber had crashed. However, judging by the video from eyewitnesses, the aircraft were shot down with anti-aircraft missiles. According to Russian sources, these were not simple transport Mi-8, but specialized Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare helicopters.

Subsequently, the spokesman of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yurii Ignat commented on the United News live that the Russians had lost not two, but three helicopters in the Bryansk region. In turn, the Russian Su-34 bomber and Su-35 fighter were shot down near the Ukrainian border near Starodub not far from the village of Istrovka. They were performing combat missions.

Then Ignat said that Russia itself was involved in the mass plane crashes of Russian aircraft and helicopters. In addition, the Ukrainian Air Force video showed operators and other air defense systems protecting the Ukrainian sky - S-300, Buk-?1, NASAMS and Iris-T air defense systems.

Air targets destroyed with the help of the Patriot air defense system, as of the beginning of July 2023, a frame from the video of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces

Also in the frame were the victory marks of the air targets of the enemy, which were destroyed by the crews of air defense systems.

To do this, they use special marks in the form of aircraft, which are painted simply on the launcher or radar.

As previously reported, Patriot air defense systems and their components came to Ukraine from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.

These systems were transferred to Ukraine to defend against Russian air attacks.