Russian Air Defense System Spectacularly Fails Storm Shadow Test

New footage appears to show a Russian air defense system in Ukraine failing to shoot down a long-range Storm Shadow missile.

In a clip shared on social media, including by open-source Twitter account OSINTtechnical, a Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system following a Ukrainian Storm Shadow missile "at near point-blank range" fails to track and destroy its target.

Newsweek could not independently verify this footage, and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

The Pantsir-S1 is a Russian self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and missile system. It is a mobile, short-range system that Russian state military exporter, Rosoboronexport, describes as "able to effectively engage a wide class of air attack weapons."

It is designed for use against aircraft, cruise missiles, precision-guided munitions and for supporting other air defense units against larger strikes.

Moscow's forces have used the Pantsir-S1 system in the ongoing war in Ukraine, and according to Dutch open-source tracking outlet, Oryx, Russia has lost 18 Pantsir-S1s since the start of full-scale war in February 2022.

The United Kingdom said in mid-May that it was providing Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, furnishing Kyiv with what is thought to be its longest-range missile capabilities. Ukraine had long asked for enhanced strike capabilities, and experts told Newsweek that the Storm Shadow missiles gave Kyiv the chance to strike hardened targets deep within Russian-controlled territory.

The air-launched missiles have a range in excess of 155 miles, according to the manufacturer and have struck 100 percent of the targets identified by the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry wrote on social media in late May.

Earlier in June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the Storm Shadow missiles for "doing a very useful and accurate job at the front" as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive push against Russian forces.

Russian-backed officials in southern Ukraine said Kyiv had used the missiles to strike a key bridge linking the Kherson region of Ukraine to the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula.

Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, which is not recognized by the international community, and Kyiv has vowed to bring Crimea back under Ukrainian control.

On June 22, Vladimir Saldo, a Moscow-backed official acting as the governor for the Kherson region, which Russia has also claimed it has annexed, said Storm Shadow missiles were used on the Chonhar Bridge from Kherson to Crimea.

This came two days after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, said the use of British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles or U.S.-provided HIMARS rockets in Crimea would mean London and Washington are "fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centers in Ukraine."