Why Russia strikes Dnipro with Kedr ballistic missile instead of Kyiv: Expert explanation
Photo: Patriot air defense system (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Russian forces feared that Ukraine would shoot down their new Kedr ballistic missile with the Patriot air defense system. That's why they struck Dnipro instead of Kyiv, states Pavlo Lakiichuk, head of security programs at the Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies, in a comment to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.
"Who said that THAAD can intercept Topol, Yars? No one has tried. That's why they say no one in the world has intercepted them. The same was said about Iskander, that it was impossible to shoot it down. Putin himself said that," said Lakiichuk.
He noted that Ukraine now has Patriots, with which no one had ever shot down Iskanders, and it turned out that Ukrainians can indeed intercept these missiles. A similar story happened with the Kinzhal missile.
"And now imagine the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which the Ukrainians could shoot down with a Patriot. What would that be? It would be a catastrophe, it would be a fiasco. Shooting down an intercontinental ballistic missile with a regular Patriot would be a catastrophe for Russia. So, they won’t risk striking Kyiv," the expert added.
According to him, the Russians realized that there are fewer Patriot systems in Dnipro, so they decided to demonstrate their new missile by striking this city.
Russia struck Ukraine with the Kedr missile
On November 21, Russia launched a new ballistic missile at Dnipro. Initially, it was reported that the enemy had used an intercontinental ballistic missile.
However, later Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had struck Ukraine with the medium-range missile system Oreshnik. In this way, the Russian forces conducted a test of the system.
At the same time, today, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence clarified that the strike on Dnipro was carried out with the Kedr missile complex. The missile's flight time from the Astrakhan region to the target was 15 minutes.
For more details on why Putin came up with Oreshnik, the intended demonstration of power, and whether such strikes could be repeated, see the RBC-Ukraine material.
