The Ukrainian General Staff announced on 21/7 that it "continues to degrade Russia's military capabilities" through a series of successful strikes on various locations. "Long-range fire was used to hit the S-300P air defense system in Russia's Belgorod region, significantly reducing Russia's long-range air defense capabilities in the area," the statement said.
The General Staff added that Ukrainian forces also struck a Nebo-M radar station in Belgorod, severely impacting the system's operational capacity and degrading the functionality of a nearby 5N66M radar.
The accompanying video shows some components of the Russian air defense complex deployed in an open area, with two missile launchers in the distance. An explosion erupts at the radar station on the far left, prompting a soldier to run closer to assess the situation.
A pro-Ukraine social media account suggested that the destroyed vehicle was a 92N6E fire control radar of the S-400 complex, alongside two power generator vehicles.
Later in the video, a smoking vehicle is seen after being struck, but the image is not clear enough to identify it.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command did not specify the weapons used in the attacks, but pro-Kyiv accounts on X (formerly Twitter) suggested it was a HIMARS rocket artillery strike.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented on the information.
The S-300P is the first variant of the S-300 series, while the S-400 is one of Russia's most modern missile defense systems. Ukraine has previously claimed to have attacked S-400 complexes in Russia, including a strike with ATACMS missiles on an S-400 site in Kursk region in 11/2024 that reportedly caused some damage.
Introduced into the Russian military in 2017, the Nebo-M is a multi-role long-range radar system capable of detecting targets at a range of nearly 600 km. It can identify and track threats such as ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft.
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Location of Belgorod region. Graphics: RYV |
Each complex is estimated to cost around 100 million USD and consists of several components, including the RLM-M radar, the RLM-D active electronically scanned array radar, and the KU-RLK command vehicle. The RLM-M and RLM-D radars can be configured to share target data with other air defense systems, including the 5N66M radar of the S-300 complex.
Pham Giang (RBC Ukraine, Militarnyi)
