A Russian air-defense system got wrecked after it fell off a bridge into the path of a moving train, report says

Thibault Spirlet
·2 min read
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A Russian air-defense system got wrecked after it fell off a bridge into the path of a moving train, report says

  • A Russian air-defense system was hit by a train after falling off a bridge, per a Russian report.

  • The driver lost control of the vehicle, killing 3 Russian soldiers and injuring 2 others, it said.

  • Russia has lost 32 Strela-10 air-defense systems in Ukraine since the start of the war, per Oryx.

A Russian air-defense missile system was destroyed after it fell off a bridge into the path of a freight train, according to independent Russian media.

Citing earlier reports, the Telegram-based news outlet Astra reported that the driver of the air-defense system lost control of the vehicle, drove off a bridge, and was hit by the moving train in the Russian-occupied region of Donetsk on Monday night.

The freight train ran over the Strela-10 short-range antiaircraft missile system, killing three Russian soldiers and injuring two others, the outlet reported, citing sources.

The train also derailed, and the track was damaged, per the outlet.

Insider was unable to independently verify the report, which also described the air-defense system as a Strela-10 antiaircraft missile system belonging to the Russian Armed Forces.

Since the start of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost 32 Strela-10 systems, according to the Dutch open-source intelligence outlet Oryx.

While considered sophisticated, Russia's air-defense systems have performed badly in the conflict, with Ukrainian forces targeting the prized vehicles with drones and missiles, according to military analysts.

In mid-September, Ukrainian drones and missiles destroyed an advanced S-400 "Triumf" air-defense system worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ukraine also claimed to have used a modified Neptune anti-ship missile to destroy a S-400 in August.

Ukraine's drone attacks have exposed Russia's formidable air-defense systems, Samuel Bendett, an analyst and expert in unmanned and robotic military systems at the Center for Naval Analyses, previously told Insider.

Many of Russia's defense systems were "not really geared towards identifying much smaller UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]," he said.

Meanwhile, as of late September, Russia's air force has lost an estimated 90 planes, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

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