Residential Building in Luhansk Damaged by Falling Russian S-300 Missile

The collapse of part of a five-story residential building in Luhansk on Friday was blamed on a Ukrainian ATACMS missile, but examination of debris shows it was a Russian air defense missile.

The independent Russian news site Insider referred to independent OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) examination of Russian media footage taken at the site of the collapsed entrance to a five-story building in Luhansk, in which six people died and, according to information provided by Oleg Valiev, the Russian-appointed First Deputy Minister of Health of the so-called Luhansk Peoples Republic (LNR), 60 were injured.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed on Friday, June 7 that the building had been struck by a Ukrainian ATACMS missile and published photographs of debris that it claimed proved it was the US long range missile that caused the damage.

The Insider report on Saturday cited the findings of OSINT analysts Oliver Alexander, said the debris was consistent with the Russian S-300 5v55 air defense missile. His view was endorsed by “Colonel General Staff” posting on Telegram, having examined images published by the Russian Izvestia new site. Special Kherson Cat writing on X/Twitter concluded that the remains were from a Russian 48N6DM S-400 missile.

While they differed in their opinion of which specific missile was involved, all three were certain it was a Russian anti-missile projectile fired over a residential area that had struck the building.

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Ukraine May Have Hit Russia's $600 Million S-500 SAM System With ATACMS

Rumors began to circulate on social media on Friday afternoon that a Ukrainian ATACMS strike had destroyed elements of the S-500 battery in an unidentified location.

Artem Lysohor the Ukrainian-appointed head of Luhank’s regional administration said on his Telegram channel said there had been as many as 20 explosions in the Hostroya Mohila area, the location of military barracks of the former Luhansk Higher Military Navigation School, where “the Russian invaders had settled comfortably.”

He said in the same area was a resort, aircraft repair plant and a logistics route leading to the Russian border along which Moscow’s forces transport cargo, weapons and personnel. He also said a nearby oil depot had been hit for the fourth time in two months. This was previously reported on by Kyiv Post.

He went on to say that the weapons given to Ukraine by its Western allies are extremely accurate while, unfortunately, Russians always position themselves in residential areas, and if their anti-aircraft defense had worked elsewhere there would have been no reports of casualties among civilians, and even more so among children.

He wrote: “Only Russia is responsible for the victims among the citizens of Luhansk. The struggle of Ukraine and its allies will continue until victory over the enemy and the liberation of the Luhansk region!”