Rare S-300V1 air defense system could be behind Russian Su jet losses

The media outlet writes that in the video, the military talks about the use of air defense systems to destroy cruise missiles and Russian combat aircraft that were dropping guided aerial bombs on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and frontline cities.

In the video, the soldiers said that the air defense systems were used to destroy missiles aimed at critical infrastructure, as well as to shoot down aircraft of the Su type.

Such aircraft are actively used by the occupiers to drop guided aerial bombs along the front line.

The Air Force has already reported shooting down Russian Su aircraft – in particular, on August 14, 2024, and February 18, 2025 – without disclosing details.

Also, on October 12, 2024, the Russians lost a Su-34 during a combat flight, but the circumstances were not clarified.

According to analysts, this video is one of the few official mentions of S-300V1 air defense systems in open sources since the beginning of the full-scale war.

Before this, a similar mention appeared only in one of the Air Force videos in February 2025, which was noted by Western analysts.

S-300V1

This is a Soviet surface-to-air missile system based on the chassis of the T-80 tank. It uses 9M83 missiles (four per launcher) or 9M82 (two per launcher). Both types have a firing range of up to 100 km.

According to Defense Express, it is precisely the 9M83 missiles that are used by the Defense Forces, and they are even rarer than the 5V55 missiles, which are in service with the S-300PT/PS systems.

Su-30 shoot-down

We remind you that on May 2, Ukrainian military forces shot down two Russian Su-30s over the Black Sea.

Ukrainian intelligence officers shot down two multirole Su-30 Flanker fighters using AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles.

This was the first case when fighters were shot down by unmanned boats and the first use of the AIM-9 from an unmanned boat to destroy the enemy.