An intense video has emerged in Russia, showing a portion of a Ukrainian drone strike, including the interception of one of the drones by what is likely to have been a Pantsir short-range air defense system. Footage showing the successful interception of Ukraine’s long-range one-way attack drones by Russian ground-based air defenses is not generally common and this one reinforces the challenge posed by these relentless Ukrainian attacks against Russian infrastructure and military facilities. Meanwhile, it’s very much a textbook example of how a surface-to-air missile in this class can down targets even at very low level, with limited response time.
Russian Pantsir air defence system intercepts Ukrainian kamikaze UAV over Smolensk, Russia.
Ukraine targeted Smolensk Aviation Plant, resulting in damage and fires. pic.twitter.com/E2zALYaJNa
— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 21, 2025
The video in question, which began to appear on social media earlier today, was taken by a bystander who witnessed the drone strike, reportedly over the Smolensk region in western Russia. In the video, taken overnight, we can clearly hear the buzzing engine of a Ukrainian drone, as flashes from nearby explosions illuminate the clouds. We then see the rocket engine of a Russian surface-to-air missile moving from right to left and at a very low level. So low, in fact, is the missile, that the glare from its motor can be seen to illuminate nearby houses as it passes them. It then impacts its target in a shower of sparks and burning debris.
The use of a surface-to-air missile in such close proximity to civilians and civilian infrastructure is noteworthy, but also a measure of the desperate efforts being taken to try and thwart these kinds of attacks.
After a brief pause, the noise of at least one other drone can be heard, indicating that this was an attack involving multiple drones.
At around the halfway mark in the video above, we see, from below, a twin-boom Ukrainian drone as it flies low over a building, followed by an explosion. People then start to spill out of the building, seemingly mainly intrigued by the engagements happening around them. Based on its appearance, the drone could be the same as the type that was notably used in an attack on Russian air defenses in Crimea in September 2023. In particular, the pusher engine configuration and extended wing roots match with this drone, the name of which remains undisclosed.
We can’t say for sure that the missile was, as widely reported, from a Pantsir short-range air defense system (SHORADS), although it would seem most likely. The Pantsir has been deployed widely to defend critical infrastructure within Russia, including on top of government buildings in Moscow, where they appeared in early 2023 after Ukraine demonstrated its ability to conduct strikes at extended ranges.
In the wheeled Pantsir-S1 configuration that is primarily used for defending infrastructure, civil and military, the system is armed with up to six ready-to-fire 57E-series command-guided missiles and also has two 30mm automatic cannons. Crews use the system’s integrated radar and infrared sensor to target aerial threats. The missiles reportedly have a maximum range of around 11 miles and can hit targets at altitudes up to around 50,000 feet, although this is very much a best-case scenario and depends on the exact missile variant and the profile of the threat. However, the system is primarily designed for low-altitude, close-in point defense. This includes swatting down cruise missiles, tactical aircraft, and air-to-ground munitions. Drones, too, are one of the main targets for the Pantsir.
Reportedly, the target of the Ukrainian drone strike in last night’s video was the Smolensk Aviation Plant, which is operated by the Tactical Missiles Corporation, Russia’s major producer of air-launched precision-guided munitions. Its portfolio includes a wide range of tactical air-to-ground missiles, as well as air-to-air missiles.
This would not be the first time that the facility has been attacked, with a reported Ukrainian drone strike having taken place in October of 2023, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR). Reports of further attacks against the Smolensk Aviation Plant appeared in November of the same year.
The last couple of days have seen Russian aerospace and air-launched munitions industries targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones.
Overnight on Sunday, Ukrainian drones struck the Kazan Aircraft Plant in Kazan, around 700 miles from the front line in Ukraine. This facility is responsible for manufacturing, modernizing, and maintaining Russian heavy bombers, including the Tu-160 Blackjack, the only aircraft in its class that remains in production in Russia. According to reports, the drone strike resulted in a fire at a fuel depot near the factory.
Russian Telegram channels report a drone attack on an aircraft plant in Kazan, Russia. According to Russian Telegram channels, one of the drones attacked a fuel tank of the Kazan aircraft plant.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) 2025-01-20T07:49:03.180Z
Strikes on Smolensk and Kazan are meanwhile part of a wider campaign directed by Kyiv and intended to degrade Russia’s ability to launch aircraft strikes against targets on Ukrainian territory.
As well as aircraft and missile production and maintenance facilities, Ukrainian drones have, in recent weeks, also been sent against Russian air bases, including Engels, a long-range bomber base in the Saratov region in southern Russia. Here, a fuel storage facility appears to have been the intended target, with strikes against it on more than one occasion already this month.
Satellite images from the oil depot near Engels-2 air base on Sentinel came available. At least 8 tanks have burned out, but more are possible. We will have to wait for better satellite images to confirm the damage.
Fuel depots elsewhere in Russia have been targeted too, as Ukraine seeks to deprive Russian combat aircraft — and the wider armed forces — of vital petroleum, oils, and lubricants. For some time now, Russia’s energy infrastructure has been a priority target for Kyiv, but the apparent focus now on military-oriented targets is noteworthy.
To some degree, these tactics have likely been driven by Russia’s own efforts to protect its bombers on the ground, which have seen the aircraft increasingly dispersed to airfields further from the front lines. This is in addition to a range of decoys and other countermeasures installed at their regular bases. With this in mind, static production and maintenance plants, as well as sprawling fuel farms, are much more reliable targets for Ukrainian drone strikes.
As to Russian efforts to stop the Ukrainian drones from getting through, these have, since the start of such Ukrainian raids, achieved mixed results. While official Russian accounts frequently claim a 100 percent success rate against drone strikes, there is mounds of evidence of damage caused by those that do manage to get through.
Undoubtedly, Russian ground-based air defenses — as well as aircraft — are extracting a toll on incoming Ukrainian drones. However, the footage captured over the Smolensk region last night does provide what’s a rare view from deep inside Russia of an apparently successful drone interception by a Russian point defense surface-to-air missile.
Credit: Yahoo News