Ukraine Destroys Second Russian Buk System in One Week, Video Shows

Ukraine has destroyed two of Russia’s Buk air defense systems in under a week, a new footage appears to show, as both sides double down on targeting the other’s all-important air defense networks.

Ukraine destroyed two of the valuable air defense systems in the south and east of the war-torn country in late November, Ukrainian officials said.

On November 24, General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s Tavria group of forces—which covers the embattled Donetsk town of Avdiivka—said Kyiv had destroyed a Russian Buk-M1, but did not offer further specifications.

Ukrainian forces took out “another Buk-M2 air defense system” in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Ukraine’s military said in a brief statement on November 30. Kyiv’s fighters used U.S.-supplied HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, to target the Buk, Kyiv added.

Buk-M2 air defense missile systems parade through the Red Square in Moscow on May 9, 2018. Ukraine has destroyed two of Russia’s Buk air defense systems in under a week, new footage appears to show.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

A brief clip posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian military—which appears to be filmed by an airborne drone—looks to show the moment the Buk system is struck and quickly ignites.

Newsweek could not independently verify when and where the video was filmed, and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

The clip has also circulated among open-source intelligence accounts, with one suggesting that could be “some of the first footage of a US-supplied AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile.”

“The attack profile doesn’t really match” a HIMARS strike, the analyst @Osinttechnical argued on social media platform X, suggesting it showed the air-to-surface radar-targeting U.S. missile.

The Ukrainian military declined to comment to Newsweek.

The Buk-M1, also known by its NATO moniker, the SA-11 Gadfly, is a Soviet-era self-propelled medium-range surface-to-air missile system in use with both the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.

The Buk can be either tracked or wheeled and is designed to take down enemy aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and other targets, according to the U.S. military. Since it went into service, the Buk missile system has been repeatedly upgraded, and Russia’s armed forces started using the Buk-M2 in 2008.

Both Russia and Ukraine have attempted to make dents in one another’s ground-based air defense systems, in what is “one of the most important contests of the war,” the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Buk systems are part of a complex network of Russian air defenses, and Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Moscow’s other ground-based systems such as SA-15 Tor, also known as “Gauntlet.” Kyiv has also publicized footage it said showed the destruction of Russia’s prized S-400 air defenses.

Update 12/04/23, 11:35 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from the Ukrainian military.