Russia improved its missiles. Now, Ukraine's Patriots are struggling to consistently shoot them down, defense intel says.

Jake Epstein

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Russia has upgraded its ballistic missiles with more maneuverability, the US said this week.

The improvements have made the missiles more challenging for Ukraine's inventory of Patriot systems.

The American-made Patriot has long been Ukraine's best defense against Russian ballistic missiles.

Russia has been upgrading its ballistic missiles, giving them more maneuverability and creating new challenges for Ukraine's vaunted American-made Patriot air defense systems, according to a US defense intelligence assessment.

A special report published this week by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General said that the Ukrainian Air Force has struggled to consistently use its Patriot systems to intercept Russian ballistic missiles due to recent "tactical improvements" that Moscow made to the weapons.

These improvements to the weapons include "enhancements that enable their missiles to change trajectory and perform maneuvers rather than flying in a traditional ballistic trajectory," said the report, which covers US assistance to Ukraine during the spring and early summer and was first reported by The War Zone.

The special report, which relied on information provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, noted two Russian attacks: one on June 28, during which Russia launched seven ballistic missiles and Ukraine shot down one; and another on July 9, when Kyiv intercepted seven of 13 missiles.

Ukraine has previously acknowledged improvements that Russia has made to increase the maneuverability of its ballistic missiles, but the report marks a concerning assessment for the Patriot air defenses that the US and many of its allies and partners also rely on for missile defense.