Dramatic Video Shows $5M Russian ‘K-1 Podlyot’ System Wiped Out in Strike

An expensive piece of Russian military equipment has been destroyed in a strike, according to Ukraine’s military, which has released a video purportedly showing the dramatic moment of the explosion.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency the GUR released on Saturday a video which it said showed troops from the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) and the 15th Separate Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade Black Forest targeting the Russian 48Y6 K-1 Podlyot radar system.

The Podlyot-K1 is a modern mobile radar system which can detect up to 200 air targets simultaneously and has a detection range of up to 180 miles, according to the Army Recognition website. The system is said to have a price tag of $5 million and is specifically designed to detect low-altitude targets. First developed in 2009, it was distributed to Russia’s Air Defense Forces from 2015.

Drone footage shows the Ukrainian strike on the piece of kit in a field in an undisclosed location. Video from other angles shows the aftermath of the radar system exploding after being struck.

“Successful fire damage was inflicted on the antenna-feeder installation and the diesel station that fed the complex,” the GUR said next to the 47-second video.

Ukrainian intelligence said that the system was used by Russia to detect and transmit co-ordinates to its S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. The Ukrainian post boasted about the successful targeting of such a pricy piece of kit.

“The cost of such a radar is more than 700 million rubles or more than 5 million dollars,” it said. Newsweek has contacted Russia’s defense ministry about the undated video which has not been independently verified.

In November last year, Ukraine’s defense ministry said that a Podlyot had been destroyed, the third confirmed destruction of the equipment, after a strike in the border zone near the village of Krasnaya Polyana in the Shebekino district of the Belgorod region.

In July 2022, another of the same Russian radar system was destroyed in a precision strike in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, according to Ukrainian reports.

It comes amid reported Ukrainian attacks which have evaded Russian air defenses.

Overnight Friday, Ukraine’s Security Service launched drone strikes against two oil refineries and a military airfield in Russia’s Krasnodar region, according to a Ukrainian military source, reported by local media. Video showed the purported moment of impact on the Slavyansk oil facility.