The communication warfare after the damage caused to a US Patriot air defence system is further proof that the war is really going on between the United States and Russia. The conflict has turned Ukraine a giant weapons lab, where civilian lives do not matter, and soldiers are only extras in the US-Russian reality show, with Zelensky playing the lead.

This week, the Russian Defence Ministry reported that using a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile, Russian units hit and fully destroyed several parts of a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system worth 1 billion dollars in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Ukraine’s government has been trying to keep a distance from the matter, while the US Department of Defence (Pentagon) admitted the damage caused to certain parts of a Patriot unit, but told the French AFP news agency that the system has been restored and it is now fully operational.

Meanwhie, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stated that „one Patriot system was damaged but it has now been fixed and it’s fully back and operational.”

The announcement by the Pentagon clearly suggests that the Patriot systems given to Ukraine are operated by Americans. What is more,

the fact that the Pentagon is providing information about damage to Ukraine’s weapons is further proof that the war is really going on between the United States and Russia.

The US Patriot missile defence system – which consists of a command centre, a radar system and a launcher for up to 8 missiles – is not a new design. The first versions were first introduced in the 1980s, specifically for air defence purposes.

„The Ukrainians received the 3rd generation variant called PAC-3, with the co-called MSE upgrade specifically developed to intercept ballistic missiles. This is the only way to shoot down a Russian Kinzhal missile,” Ferenc Kaiser, associate professor at the Hungarian National University of Public Service, told Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet.

He added that the Russians announced the Kinzhal in 2017, which they described as indestructible. That may have been true at the time, but since then the Americans have modified their own system, he noted.

Thus, the fact that the Patriot has been able to shoot down Kinzhal missiles opened up huge export opportunities to the US. „The potential buyers are more interested in its effectiveness against hypersonic missiles than the fact that the system itself can be hit,” Mr Kaiser opined.

Previous versions of the Patriot missile defence system were used in the Gulf War. They were in fact first tested in live combat against Scud missiles. The new version is being tested in real war conditions by the Americans in Ukraine, just as the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles are tested by the Russians.

In summary, it is clear that

the US and Russia are both using Ukraine as a weapons laboratory, and the Americans see the Ukrainian people as mere extras.