Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces (SSO) said it detected and destroyed a Russian S-400 air defense missile complex in Russia’s Kaluga region on Sept. 5.
The S-400 system (NATO: SA-21 “Growler”), an analogue to the US’s Patriot system with a range up to 380 km (240 miles), is one of the more advanced systems in Russian service apart from the S-500 systems that entered service in 2021.
The SSO said in a Monday update that its operatives discovered the system during a reconnaissance mission and authorized the attack, hitting “one launcher and a radar station of the Russian S-400 Triumph air defense system.”
“On the night of Sept. 5, the SSO group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted a special reconnaissance during which they discovered the S-400 Triumph air defense system in the Kaluga region,” the update says.
“After receiving visual confirmation of the object, the operators transmitted data for fire damage,” it adds.
A 2023 Newsweek article estimated that each S-400 system costs around $200 million, citing an expert from the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
The Kaluga region borders Russia’s Bryansk region, with the latter located on Ukraine’s northeastern border and has been subject to Ukrainian attacks – including ground incursions.
However, the precise location of the strike was not disclosed.
The Ukrainian General Staff also reported the strike on the day it happened, saying it hit “a command and staff vehicle and a control point” at the time.
While the SSO did not specify the weapons used, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed to have downed 11 Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga region overnight between Sept. 4 and Sept. 5.
Another Newsweek article in 2024 suggested that Russia had around 56 full S-400 systems by the 2020s.
While there have been confirmed reports that Russia has used S-300 air defense missiles – direct predecessors of the S-400 – as ground-to-ground missiles to hit Ukrainian targets, such as an attack on Ukraine’s Kherson in July this year, there are no confirmed incidents with the S-400s.