UKRAINE, Nov. 5 — Drone operators of the 21st separate regiment KRAKEN detected and attacked the Russian BUK-M3 anti-aircraft missile system during a Ukrainian counteroffensive operation called Vivaldi, the 3rd Army Corps reported.

The Russian military took the BUK-M3 into service in 2016. The system is designed to intercept aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, drones, and certain types of ballistic targets using guided missiles. The system consists of a command post, radar systems for detecting and tracking targets, and a launcher with six missiles, Militarnyi, a Ukrainian defense media outlet, said.

“The loss of one of Russia’s key air defense systems means fewer options for defending its forces on the battlefield,” the 3rd Army Corps added.

On Sep. 15, the Ukrainian military reported that they had launched a counteroffensive in the Lyman axis in northern Donetsk oblast, calling this operation Vivaldi.

Over the four phases of the Vivaldi operation, Ukrainian forces liberated 16 settlements — 277 square kilometers (107 square miles) — on the Lyman axis, killing or wounding 8,000 Russian soldiers.

Andrii Biletskyi, the Commander of the Third Army Corps, explained that the operation prevented the Russians from flanking the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk area and cutting off the Kharkiv–Sloviansk highway. The Russian command was also forced to redeploy some of its units, weakening the pressure on Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi.

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