Ukraine plans to successfully use its new Patriot air defense systems against cruise and ballistic targets.

The American surface-to-air missile system has been on combat duty in Ukraine since April 2023.

Ukrainian soldiers had mastered the Patriot air defense system as fast as they could.

Recently, the Ukrainian Air Force Commander, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk conducted an inspection of the Patriot air defense system.

“Modern Western equipment has its own peculiarities, but our sky defenders are quickly mastering it and are already ready to eliminate Russian invaders,” said the Lieutenant General.

Oleschuk added that Patriot’s work is aimed at shooting down Kh-22 cruise missiles and ballistic targets.

The Kh-22 cruise missile has a warhead mass of about 950 kilograms. The maximum range is up to 600 kilometers. When used from long distances, the deviation from the target can be hundreds of meters.

The Ukrainian operators of the modern Western air defense system emphasized that the advantage of the launcher is that it has the ability to use different types of missiles to shoot down various Russian missiles.

As previously reported, although in small numbers, Ukraine already has modern Western air defense systems, such as NASAMS, IRIS-T, Patriot, SAMP/T, Crotale, Gepard and others.

Air defense systems and their components arrived in Ukraine from the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The air defense systems were transferred to Ukraine to defend against Russian air attacks.

According to Pentagon officials, Patriot systems will strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, as they will allow shooting down, in particular, enemy’s ballistic missiles and aircraft aimed at both troops and civilian targets.