The silver bullet against Putin is still standing: Kiev denies Russia's downing of Iris-T system

Footage released by Russian authorities purportedly shows how a guided missile damages a modern defense system in Ukraine. But there are doubts.

Kyiv/Moscow – Once again, representatives of Western ministries and Ukrainian intelligence services have denied Russian success stories in the Ukraine war, which concern the destruction of modern Western weapons and defense systems. This time, the controversy focuses on the Iris-T-SLM air defense system.

According to information from the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), the system is one of two systems supplied by Germany to Ukraine from a Baden-Württemberg manufacturer that have been in use in Ukraine since last October. According to a report by Tagesschau.de, the anti-aircraft system is one of the most modern systems of its kind. To detect air strikes and shoot down the attacking devices, the Iris-T system uses modern radar modules. The entire equipment costs around 200 million euros per system.

In addition to older military equipment, several Western weapons systems are now also in use in Ukraine. (Symbolic photo) © Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

Russian "attack" on Iris-T system in Ukraine: many questions remain unanswered

Now, Russia reported this week that Russian soldiers had identified one of the systems and incapacitated a radar module of the Iris-T through a targeted attack with a so-called "loitering munitions" attack system. This was then picked up by several media outlets, citing Russian sources. "Loitering munitions" are guided missiles that first approach and spy on an area without a specific target and are then programmed accordingly for an attack from the ground.

In an attempt to confirm the Russian report, according to the report, the SZ received only the statement from the German Ministry of Defense that the ministry had "no knowledge" that would indicate "that a radar of the Iris-T-SLM system was destroyed." Ukrainian sources speak of "fake news" and denied the Russian report. As reported by the British Times, this was based on alleged aerial photographs that are supposed to show the incident.

Dubious reports from Russia: The role of propaganda in the Ukraine war

In general, the media have already reported several times on controversial war success stories by the Russian authorities and military representatives – and in some cases have clearly identified them as Russian war propaganda through research. For example, there had recently been reports that Russian soldiers had carried out successful attacks on Western Leopard tanks. At least some of them have already been exposed as propaganda by experts.

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In the case of the Himars systems supplied by the United States to Ukraine, there had already been controversial Russian success stories. In some cases, the background was probably that the Ukrainian troops seem to deliberately rely on deceptive maneuvers and use clever tricks to make the Russian attackers believe that they are attacking Western systems, as reported by the US newspaper Washington Post. (saka)