Ukraine May Have Hit Russia's $600 Million S-500 SAM System With ATACMS

Posts began to appear on pro-Ukraine Telegram and X accounts on the afternoon of Friday, June 28 that an S-500 anti-missile complex had been hit with cluster-munition filled ATACMS missiles.

The bloggers couldn’t agree whether one or more elements of the system such as its missiles, a launcher an associated radar were hit.

JOIN US ON TELEGRAM Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.

The Ukrainian milblogger “Military News claimed on X that the whole complex worth $600 million was destroyed in the attack, as did NOELREPORTS citing a claim by Ukraine’s TIVAZ artillery formation.

The Ukrainian Telegram channels Tsapilenko-Ukraine Fights and Bayraktar also made reference to reports that the system was destroyed but the latter said confirmation was still awaited.

Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, also reported the destruction on Telegram but prefaced his comments by saying “We are waiting for pictures from the satellite... because certain parts of the S-500 and S-400 are similar. But, even if it's the S-400, it's also awesome!”

It is noted that the Armed Forces destroyed the new Russian S-500 air defence system. The cost of one of these reaches $600 million.

By early evening international mainstream media had picked up on the reports. Newsweek cited Tsapilenko’s social media post but said it could not independently verify the claim but had contacted Russian and Ukrainian authorities for comment – none had been received at the time of publication.

Other Topics of Interest Kremlin Holds US Responsible for Ukrainian Strike on Sevastopol, Threatens ‘Retaliation’ Moscow’s Foreign Ministry accuses US of “waging a hybrid war against Russia” after Ukrainian ATACMS strike while the Pentagon says Kyiv makes its own targeting decisions.

The Ukrainian news site Ukrainian National News (UNN) reported a serioius fire at a possible Russian air defense position on the airfield in Dzhankoy, in occupied Crimea, citing the Crimean Wind monitoring group who had published a satellite image of the fire. It suggested this could possibly be related to the S-500 attack as it occurred near locations where an S-400 system had previously been destroyed.

Satellite image taken on June 28 shared by the Crimean Wind monitoring group showing a fire at the Dzhankoy airfield in occupied Crimea