How Russia exposes Ukrainian defences with ballistic missile attacks

In recent months, Moscow’s forces have intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine’s chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the missiles.

When Russia fires a ballistic missile at Ukraine, air-defence systems have only minutes — sometimes seconds — to detect and intercept the deadly threat.

Unlike cruise missiles, which behave like pilotless planes, ballistic missiles are launched like rockets and then dive steeply toward their targets at several times the speed of sound.

When Russia fires a ballistic missile at Ukraine, air-defense systems have only minutes or seconds to detect and intercept the deadly threat