Military expert Leonkov told how the Ukrainian Armed Forces could have shot down the Il-76

Military expert Leonkov: The Ukrainian Armed Forces could have used the Patriot air defense system to destroy the Il-76

Military expert Alexey Leonkov, in a conversation with Russian journalists, analyzed the situation with the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strike on the Russian Il-76 aircraft transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war.

According to the expert, the airliner could have been shot down using an American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system.

As Leonkov noted, citing preliminary data from the investigation, a missile with an active homing head was fired towards Belgorod airport. At that moment, a plane with prisoners of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was preparing to land at the air harbor.

“Experts admitted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could also use Iris-T, a more mobile system. It can be pulled very close to the line of combat contact, while Patriot is less mobile, since it occupies a larger area,” the expert said.

At the same time, he emphasized that only the investigation will be able to establish exactly which air defense system used to shoot down the aircraft.

It will only get worse: Kyiv shot down an Il-76 with prisoners for a cynical purpose