Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military on Friday launched what’s been called the largest aerial attack of the Ukraine war, and one economic-focused Ukrainian outlet estimated the cost of the assault for Russia to be at least $1.273 billion.
The figure was calculated by Ekonomichna Pravda (Economic Truth), which tallied the prices of the drones and missiles the Ukrainian Air Force reported Russia used during the massive assault.
The Associated Press (AP), citing Ukrainian officials, said at least 30 civilians were killed in the strikes that took place across the country—including on the capital Kyiv—and at least 144 people were wounded. The AP reported Russia used 122 missiles and dozens of drones in what was a bombardment that lasted around 18 hours. Officials said a maternity hospital, schools and residential apartments were among the structures damaged.
Patriots are expensive, an IRIS-T costs about 350k Euro, SL variant 500k (the air defence system can use both using quite cheap launchers but the base variant has quite limited range when launched from the ground, being an air-to-air missile and all). And they have yet to miss an incoming missile.
The ideal situation is if they can take something down with a Gepard, a burst should cost maybe 100-200 Euro and you usually only need one or two, they’re quite accurate.