Ukrainian forces have struck a valuable Russian radar station using U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, Kyiv said on Thursday, in a move that could disrupt Moscow’s air defenses and open up Russian targets to further attacks using sophisticated Western weapons.
Ukraine destroyed a Russian Nebo-M long-range radar station in an unspecified location, Kyiv’s military said in a statement posted to social media, without giving further details.
“Its destruction significantly reduces the ability of the Russian army to detect, track and intercept aerodynamic and ballistic targets,” Ukraine’s military said.
Newsweek could not independently verify the report and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
A Russian soldier stands in front of a Nebo-M radar in Eastern Siberia, Russia, on Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Ukraine destroyed a Russian Nebo-M at an unspecified location, Kyiv’s military said in a statement posted to social media on Thursday.
AP Photo/Sergei Grits
Reports from late May suggested Ukraine had used U.S.-donated Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) ground-launched missiles to target a Nebo-M radar in a Russian-controlled area of the eastern Ukrainian Luhansk region.
The Nebo-M is “very complex,” Ukraine’s military said on Thursday. Russia has just 10 of such radar stations remaining, Kyiv said, putting the cost of each system at more than $100 million.
Russian state media has claimed the radar as able to detect enemy aircraft and ballistic missiles at a distance of 1,000 kilometers, or around 620 miles.
Taking out the radar station will help Kyiv to effectively wield its British Storm Shadow and French SCALP cruise missiles, which are launched by aircraft, the Ukrainian military added.
Ukraine has received several batches of the ATACMS missiles and an unknown number of Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, but Kyiv has consistently requested further long-range strike weapons like these to fend off Russia’s creeping advance in the east of the country.
It has also vocally called for the U.S., U.K. and other allies to lift restrictions preventing Ukraine from using these weapons on internationally-recognized Russian territory. These demands have so far not yielded results for Kyiv, despite some signaling from officials last month.
The director of Russian state-owned weapons manufacturer Almaz-Antey described the Nebo-M radar in 2021 as being “the menace of stealth technologies,” saying in remarks reported by Moscow’s state media at the time that it could detect U.S. F-22 and F-35 stealth fighter jets.
State news agency Tass described the Nebo-M as one of the radars forming the “backbone” of the network along Russia’s ground border. It was first delivered to Moscow’s troops in 2017, according to Tass, and to the annexed Crimean Peninsula in 2018.
Update 10/3/2024 at 6:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
