- A Russian general said the US only successfully hit targets with 22 of the 105 missiles it fired, and that Syria shot down the rest with old air defenses.
- He also claimed that US missiles were captured and sent to Moscow so they could improve Russia's own weapons systems.
- The Pentagon forcefully pushed back on those claims, and pointed to a total lack of evidence on Russia's side.
Russian General Sergei Rudskoi on Wednesday made a number of bold claims about the April strike on suspected Syrian chemical weapons sites, essentially saying the US was all but totally defeated by Syrian defenses.
Rudskoi claimed that two missiles, including a Tomahawk, the US Navy's cruise missile of choice, failed to reach their targets and have been sent to Moscow to help the Russians improve their weapons, according to NPR's Moscow correspondent, Lucian Kim.
He went on to revise Russia's initial claim that 71 of 105 missiles fired were blocked in the strike — carried out jointly by the US, UK, and France — saying instead that 83 missiles went down, and only 22 hit their targets.
Finally, he said Russia would send S-300 missile defenses into Syria in the "near future," something that would bolster the country's defenses.
At the Pentagon, Maj. Josh T. Jacques responded to Russia sending in additional missile defenses, telling Business Insider that Russia "should move humanitarian aid into Syria, not more weaponry."
Responding to Russia's claims of US missiles failing in the Syria strike and the capture of downed missiles, something the Pentagon has denied, Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Business Insider "both claims are completely and totally untrue. "
Pahon said Russia has yet to produce credible photographic evidence of downed Tomahawk missiles in Syria.
Omar Lamrani, a military analyst at Stratfor, a geopolitical consulting company, told Business Insider that he has seen "no evidence whatsoever that those missiles were shot down" or captured.
Photos from the strike show Syrian air defenses likely fired blindly at nothing. The Pentagon maintains that no Syrian missiles intercepted any US or allied missiles, and that most of Syria's air defenses fired after the strike took place.
Also, the Pentagon says Syria fired 40 interceptors, meaning it's virtually impossible that 71 missiles were downed, as it takes at least one interceptor to down a missile.
Justin Bronk, an air combat expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said he doubted Russia's claims, and that the remarks were "probably just posturing in this case to try and embarrass the US."
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