Posts began to appear on pro-Ukraine Telegram and X accounts on the afternoon of Friday, June 28 that an S-500 anti-missile complex had been hit with cluster-munition filled ATACMS missiles.
The bloggers couldn’t agree whether one or more elements of the system such as its missiles, a launcher an associated radar were hit.
The Ukrainian milblogger “Military News claimed on X that the whole complex worth $600 million was destroyed in the attack, as did NOELREPORTS citing a claim by Ukraine’s TIVAZ artillery formation.
The Ukrainian Telegram channels Tsapilenko-Ukraine Fights and Bayraktar also made reference to reports that the system was destroyed but the latter said confirmation was still awaited.
Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, also reported the destruction on Telegram but prefaced his comments by saying “We are waiting for pictures from the satellite... because certain parts of the S-500 and S-400 are similar. But, even if it's the S-400, it's also awesome!”
It is noted that the Armed Forces destroyed the new Russian S-500 air defence system. The cost of one of these reaches $600 million.
By early evening international mainstream media had picked up on the reports. Newsweek cited Tsapilenko’s social media post but said it could not independently verify the claim but had contacted Russian and Ukrainian authorities for comment – none had been received at the time of publication.
The Ukrainian news site Ukrainian National News (UNN) reported a serioius fire at a possible Russian air defense position on the airfield in Dzhankoy, in occupied Crimea, citing the Crimean Wind monitoring group who had published a satellite image of the fire. It suggested this could possibly be related to the S-500 attack as it occurred near locations where an S-400 system had previously been destroyed.
The head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence directorate (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, had said on June 15 that Russian forces had deployed at least part of its latest S-500 anti-missile system to Crimea to compensate for the number of S-300 and S-400 systems that had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces.
According to Budanov, the S-500 was likely stationed in Russian-occupied Crimea to safeguard the Kerch Bridge that links the peninsula to mainland Russia. Not only does the bridge provide a key supply route it also has a high prestige value to President Vladimir Putin.
The S-500 anti-missile complex, also known as the Prometey (Prometheus) or 55R6M Triumfator-M, is a next-generation Russian surface-to-air missile system that has taken more than a decade to bring into service. It is designed to protect critical infrastructure and military assets from a wide range of aerial threats, including aircraft, drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.
It is claimed to have a response time of less than 4 seconds, more than half that of the S-400 Triumf, with a range of 600 kilometers (370 miles) against ballistic missiles and 500 kilometers (310 miles) for air defense. The manufacturer, Almaz-Antey, says it was designed to detect and simultaneously engage up to 10 ballistic hypersonic targets at velocities of 7,000 meters (4.3 miles) a second at altitudes of more than 180 kilometers (110 miles). They also say it could engage low Earth orbit satellites and weapons platforms with.
The S-500 consists of several separate but linked components including: 77P6 launch vehicles, 55K6MA and 85Zh6-2 command posts, the 91N6A(M) acquisition and battle management radar, the 96L6-TsP acquisition radar, the 76T6 multimode and 77T6 ABM engagement radars. The elements are all mounted on BAZ multi-wheeled trucks or trailers.
If destruction is confirmed this will represent yet another major blow to Russia’s military prestige and capability.