Ukraine used a newly delivered Patriot air-defence system to intercept the most sophisticated missile in Russia’s arsenal for the first time over Kyiv this week, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday.

It was the first time Ukraine said that its military had used the advanced American-made missile system, long coveted by the Ukrainians. Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, said that the Patriot system was used to shoot down a hypersonic Kinzhal missile fired by Russia over the capital on Thursday.

“I congratulate the Ukrainian people on a historic event,” General Oleshchuk said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app. “Yes, we have shot down the ‘unparalleled’ ‘Kinzhal.’” There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine’s western allies, including the US, of the use of the Patriot or whether it had hit a hypersonic missile. The US military’s European Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Patriot is by far the most expensive single weapon system that the United States, Ukraine’s main military benefactor, has supplied to Ukraine, at a total cost of about $1.1 billion: $400 million for the system and $690 million for the missiles.

Ukraine had been pleading with the Pentagon to provide it with Patriot systems since the start of the war and the White House approved the request in December. Last month, Ukraine confirmed that the first Patriot systems had arrived. For more than a year, Ukraine had no air-defence system that could counter Russia’s arsenal of ballistic or hypersonic missiles like the Kinzhal.

The powerful explosion that officials said was air defence firing in the skies above central Kyiv rattled windows and jolted people out of bed. Fragments from the explosion littered the streets not far from the government quarter in the heart of the city and were collected by teams of forensic experts.

General Oleshchuk said the military waited to report that the Patriot had been used to protect operational security. He urged the public not to share information about air defences as they work to counter Russian missiles and drones.

“We will definitely report what, where, with what, and when it was shot down,” he said. “All in its own time.”

New York Times News Service