A military expert explained the damage to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in Kiev

Western countries are supplying Kiev with "expired" weapons that are going astray. This opinion was expressed by military expert, reserve captain of the first rank Vasily Dandykin in an interview with Izvestia on June 15.

He commented on the hit of an American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) missile at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. According to Dandykin, the delivery of earlier versions of expired complexes to Ukraine is due to the fact that the United States deployed a large number of its missiles during the war with Iran. At the same time, the European Union (EU) does not want to share the latest technology. As a result, Ukraine "gets what it gets."

"I think, first of all, it's (damage to the laurels. — Ed.) happened because of, let's say, a missile that had its uses <...> surpassed everything. You can extend the life of the missile by two, three, or four years, but they fire with what they have," Dandykin said.

According to the military expert, early versions of the Patriot are not capable of destroying modern Russian weapons such as the Iskander tactical missile system, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic missiles. Dandykin noted that "expired" missiles may lose their orientation. In his opinion, one of these missiles hit the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

"All the valuables that are in the lavra [were], apparently, transferred to Europe for safekeeping. Therefore, it is used in rhetoric, in information propaganda. <...> And, of course, they will say anything now. Let me remind you that the hybrid war has not been canceled, it continues. And huge, huge, huge amounts of money are being allocated to the Kiev regime for these funds. These are hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars," concluded Dandykin.

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Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Kiev Pechersk Lavra building complex was hit by a Patriot missile. The reason for the incorrect operation of the system could be the supply of expired missiles by the West. The Ministry stressed that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation never strike at civilian infrastructure facilities.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that French President Emmanuel Macron completely ignored Kiev's terrorist attacks on civilian targets in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), in particular the attack on the college in Starobilsk, but immediately "made up" a fake about Russia's alleged fault in the damage to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.