ELLIE COOK
Ukraine's air force has appeared to confirm that a U.S-made Patriot missile system was behind the downing of five Russian aircraft in one day in May 2023.
A video posted on Monday shows "kill" markings on the side of a Patriot air defense system that indicate it claimed three helicopters and two jets on May 13. If accurate, this would be a record for a Patriot system in a single day.
The precise circumstances around the destruction of the aircraft are still unclear. On May 14, Ukraine's air force said Russia had lost three helicopters and two aircraft the previous day in the Russian border region of Bryansk. However, Kyiv appeared to suggest that Russia's own air defenses were responsible for the loss of the aircraft.
At the time, Russian state media reported four aircraft had been lost, rather than five. Russian outlet Kommersant said four aircraft—an Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jet as well as two Mi-8 helicopters—were shot down "almost simultaneously" on May 13.
The model or type of the contested fifth aircraft, which would be a helicopter by Kyiv's tally, is not known, although Forbes has suggested it could be a search-and-rescue helicopter.
A Russian Su-35 at an air show at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on September 17, 2019. Russian outlet Kommersant said four aircraft, an Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jet as well as two Mi-8 helicopters, were shot down "almost simultaneously" on May 13.
In an article referencing the video showing the markings on the Patriot missile system, Ukrainian military reporter Yuri Butusov said "this is the most effective Patriot battery attack since the creation of this anti-aircraft missile system."
According to data provided by the U.S. think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, bringing down five targets in less than 24 hours would indeed be a record for the Patriot system. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment via email, and a Pentagon spokesperson said they had nothing to add at this time.
The two fighter jets were planning to strike Ukraine's Chernihiv region with missiles and bombs, Russian media reported at the time. The helicopters were "to secure them" and rescue the fighter jet crews should they be shot down by Ukraine, according to the Kommersant report from mid-May.
There had been speculation that a Patriot system had been used to take out the aircraft, despite the Russian state news agency Tass saying one of the helicopters had crashed due to an engine malfunction. Tass also confirmed the Su-34 crash in a later report, citing Russian emergency services.
Ukraine has received at least two Patriot systems, including one sent by the U.S. In late April, Ukraine's military confirmed two Patriot batteries were operational in the country.
Air defense systems have ranked highly on Ukraine's list of military aid demands, and Kyiv's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, praised the arrival of Patriots as a "dream."
"Our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Reznikov said on April 19. "Our air defenders have mastered them as fast as they could."
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