The relentless work of the Ukrainian air defenses: "We have no rest days"

Russian air attacks on kyiv followed one another in incessant waves. Yet very little penetrated the patched but increasingly sophisticated air defense network. Here's why.

Find it, target it, shoot it.

Exercise is the even for Ukrainian air defense crews as they work around the clock to combat the relentless barrage of missiles the Russians are launching into Kyiv, mostly thwarting the most intense bombardment of the capital since the first weeks of the war.

In the month of May alone, Russia bombed Kiev 17 times. It fired hypersonic missiles from MIG-31 fighter jets and attacked with land-based ballistic missiles powerful enough to level an entire building. Russian bombers and ships fired dozens of long-range cruise missiles, and more than 200 attack drones participated in bombardments aimed at confusing and overwhelming Ukrainian air defenses.

It features a constant struggle for Ukrainian defenders. Russian assaults can be relentless. They mostly arrive at night, but sometimes during the day, as they did on Monday.

Even when Ukraine manages to detonate missiles from the sky , falling debris can cause death and destruction. Early Thursday, Russia sent a volley of 10 ballistic missiles to kyiv; Ukrainian officials said they were all shot down, but falling fragments killed three people, including a child, and injured more than a dozen others.

Yet, overall, very little penetrated the complex and increasingly sophisticated air defense network around the Ukrainian capital, saving dozens of lives. Year-old "shooter" who is part of a two-person anti-aircraft missile crew tasked with protecting a single piece of sky just outside Kiev.

ImageCleaning debris from a building damaged in an airstrike, in Kiev on Sunday. Credit...Nicole Tung for The New York Times

Ukraine's air defenses are a patchwork of different weapons, many of which were recently supplied by the West, protecting millions from civilians in Kyiv and other cities, and protecting critical infrastructure that includes four operating nuclear power plants. Tom Karako, director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, called it a "kind of breakfast dog" of systems.

There are hundreds of people like Riabyi, armed with American-made Stinger surface-to-air missiles and other portable weapons. Many others operate more complex launchers that have recently arrived, such as the Patriot (American), the NASAMS (Norwegian-American) and the SAMP/T (French-Italian). Ukraine also uses German-made Gepard anti-aircraft guns and a mixture of Soviet-era air defenses.

Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence said the raids targeting the capital were a "massive and unprecedented" assault intended to wear down air defense systems, deliver a powerful symbolic blow to the heart of the former capital and sow terror.

President Volodymyr Zelensky once again thanked “the defenders of heaven” in his address to the nation on Tuesday evening. The battle in the air, he said, is as important as the bloody struggle of the soldiers on the ground.

Air defense teams succeeded in shoot down about 90% of incoming missiles and drones recently and, remarkably, 100% of ballistic missiles targeting Kiev, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. These statistics could not be independently verified...