市民の生死を握るウクライナ防空部隊

【キーウＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナの首都キーウの防空を担うある隊長は、ミサイルやドローン（無人機）がレーダーに映るたびに責任の重大さを痛感する。迎撃できなければ、犠牲になるのは市民だ。（写真はフランスが供与し、ウクライナ東部に配備された対空ミサイル「クロタル」。ウクライナ空軍提供）
　これまでに迎撃したロシアの巡航ミサイルの中には、０．５トン近い重さがある弾頭を搭載したものもあった。
　「アトラス」というコールサインのみを明かしてＡＦＰの取材に応じた隊長（３７）は「多くのことが、私と部下の肩にかかっている」と語った。
　ロシアによるウクライナ侵攻開始直後、アトラス隊長が軍に入隊したときには古びた機器しかなく、飛来するミサイルや無人機を見ながら無力感を味わっていた。
　しかし、フランスが供与した対空ミサイル「クロタル」の訓練を、本来なら４か月かかるところ１か月で終えた頃から、状況が変わり始めた。
　今年１月２日未明、標的を初めて迎撃したアトラス隊からは歓声が上がった。撃ち落としたのはイラン製の無人機シャヘドだった。「だが皆すぐに心を鎮めて、集中しなければならないと理解した。喜ぶのは後回しだと」
　アトラス隊はこれまで１０機以上を迎撃してきたが、失敗は「とても辛い瞬間だ」という。
　軍当局は今月２５日、首都および周辺に飛来したシャヘド３６機を撃墜したと発表した。だが、ロシアの攻撃はやまない。翌日には東部ドニプロの医療施設がミサイル攻撃を受け、１人が死亡、２３人が負傷した。
　ウクライナは５月上旬、ロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領が「無敵」とうたった極超音速ミサイル「キンジャル」の迎撃に初めて成功したとも発表した。使用したのは、４月に供与された米国製の地対空迎撃ミサイルシステム「パトリオット」だった。
　だが、ミサイルを迎撃するだけでは、人命に対する脅威は完全になくならない。落下するミサイルの破片や弾頭も深刻な被害をもたらす恐れがある。
　アトラス隊長いわく迎撃する際には、残骸の落下地点もできる限り予測する。「（落下地点を）自分たちの近くに想定して撃墜するときもある。（居住地に）落ちたらとても危険だからだ」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/31-17:28）

The commander of a Kyiv-area air defence team knows what's at stake every time a missile or drone appears on his team's radar: if they miss, people may die.
A potent example came when the team downed a Russian cruise missile and the wreckage revealed it carried an unexploded, nearly half-tonne warhead.
A lot depends on me and my crew -? to make sure people will sleep peacefully at night, the commander, who uses the call-sign Atlas, told AFP in English.
Air raid sirens and thundering explosions have echoed repeatedly in Kyiv's pre-dawn skies in May, as Russia has stepped up the aerial attacks that have marked its invasion.
But Ukraine's forces, bolstered by Western-provided air defence systems, have recently reported shooting down most of the deadly projectiles.
Atlas, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his call-sign, said the situation is starkly different from a year ago.
He joined the service shortly after Russia's invasion, and said he felt helpless watching on the older machines the military had at that time as missiles and drones streaked toward Ukraine.
I see just dots on the screen. But later, when they disappeared somewhere, I knew that something (bad) just happened, and most likely, I will read about it in the news, he said.
Things began to change after extremely accelerated training -- one month, instead of four -- on the Crotale air defence system provided by France.
His team shot down its first target, a Shahed explosive drone, in the early hours of January 2, setting off a cheer among them.
But like immediately we composed ourselves and understood that we need to still be very focused. We can celebrate later, the 37-year-old noted.
- 'Start hunting again' -
He said they have destroyed more than 10 targets since their first shoot-down, but they don't get them all.
These are very painful moments, he said of misses.
We saw this target but it went through because something didn't work well.
The barrages keep coming though.
Just on Thursday, Ukraine reported shooting down an entire attack of 36 Shahed drones.
But a day later, a Russian missile struck a medical facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing one person and injuring 23.
I don't think this is something that normal people should get used to. But this is reality, we live and these people live with that for more than one year already, said Atlas.
Ukraine has also claimed to have downed several Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles ?- one of the weapons touted as invincible by Russian President Vladimir Putin, as their speed allows them to defy most air defence systems.
Ukraine said it shot down one of the Russian missiles for the first time in early May, using a powerful US Patriot anti-aircraft system delivered to Kyiv in April.
But even downing the missiles does not extinguish their deadly risk ?- the debris and warheads can still cause serious destruction when they plummet to the ground.
Atlas said his team tries to predict where the wreckage will fall when they prepare to fire upon a target.
Sometimes we let it get closer to us, so that we will be sure that debris will not fall on villages or something like that. That may happen and it's very dangerous, he added.
They also face an enemy that adapts to what the Ukrainian forces are doing.
If, for example, Atlas's team shoots down an incoming missile, what he called a period of quiet sometimes follows.
We understand that they know we are there and we have to change position in order to start hunting them again, he said.