An interview with Colonel Serhiy Yaremenko, commander of PATRIOT missile complex

An interview with Colonel Serhiy Yaremenko, commander of the 96th Air Defense Forces, which is armed with the MIM-104 "Patriot" air defense system. He tells quite a yarn--you be the judge.

He notes that during the war, the Russians significantly improved their air attack tactics. Russia is actively exploiting the terrain, equipping more missiles with jamming generators, conducting combined strikes using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and attack UAVs from various directions to overwhelm air defense.

All K-74M2 "Kynzhal" aeroballistic missiles (according to official data, more than 20) that were launched over Kyiv after the start of combat duty of the "Patriot" air defense system were shot down. The first "Dagger" was intercepted on the night of May 4, 2023 at an altitude of about 10 km. After that, on May 16, the enemy fired 16 ballistic missiles within 4 minutes, of which 10 were identified as "Dagger", and a certain number - as ZKR 48N6 and 9M723 "Iskander-M". The strike was repulsed, and all targets were intercepted. The anti-aircraft gunners also shot down the 3M22 "Zirkon" rocket.

According to the colonel, the K-47M2 (Kinzhal) missile changes its speed during flight, in the initial section it is more than 3000 m/s (almost Mach 9), after transitioning to the ballistic trajectory — 1500 m/s (Mach 4.4), which is almost no different from the parameters of the 9M723 "Iskander-M".