The Armed Forces of Ukraine said that its units targeted several Russian air defense systems and command posts across Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories overnight on Monday, according to its General Staff.
This news follows an announcement by the Unmanned Systems Forces that it had destroyed 19 elements of Russia’s air defense network between March 1 and March 12.
“As part of reducing the offensive potential of the Russian aggressor, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine yesterday and on the night of March 16 struck enemy air defense systems and command posts,” the General Staff said in a Telegram update on Tuesday.
Ukrainian forces are said to have hit two Tor air defense systems in the overnight attacks – a Tor-M1 air defense system near Korobkyne in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region and another Tor system near the Russian-occupied village of Balashivka in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
The Tor system (NATO reporting name: SA-15 “Gauntlet”) is a Soviet-era Russian short-range surface-to-air missile system capable of intercepting tactical aircraft, helicopters, drones, and cruise missiles.
The estimated cost of a Tor-M1 air defense system – which entered service in 1991 as an improved version of the original Tor system which entered service in 1986 – is roughly $25 million.
A radar station belonging to an S-300 air defense system was also struck near Chervone in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Donetsk region, the General Staff said.
It is at least the second Russian radar connected to an S-300 air defense to be struck by Ukraine in the occupied territories in March – units of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces succeeding in destroying one in Russian-occupied Crimea on March 11.
Ukrainian forces also targeted Russian command and observation posts near Stepne in the Donetsk region and Bahate in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the statement.
The scale of the damage and potential Russian losses is still being clarified.