Russia Builds Third Air Defense Ring Around Moscow to Counter Ukrainian Drones

Russia has erected roughly 24 new towers around Moscow in recent months to mount Pantsir air defense systems, expanding the capital's protective ring and reinforcing coverage over key strategic sites.

The construction was documented by open-source researcher jembob, who cataloged the new positions in an analysis posted on X on July 26.

According to his findings, the observed construction includes:

• roughly 24 towers built to host Pantsir systems;

• three to four Pantsir-SMD complexes mounted on the rooftops of buildings inside the city;

• two new sites are being prepared for S-400 systems.

jembob assessed that the towers form a new defensive ring roughly 40 kilometers in radius, with additional positions clustered around specific high-value targets—an oil refinery, a residence of the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow-Vnukovo airport.

He noted that at least three towers stand beside existing earthen ramps, suggesting they are meant to replace older positions rather than add new ones.

Jembob’s analysis suggested that several of the newest towers beyond the 50-kilometer mark were positioned near major electrical substations.

The Pantsir is a short-range air defense system built to intercept aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones at close range, typically serving as the terminal layer that catches threats slipping past larger systems.

The standard Pantsir-S1 pairs surface-to-air missiles with twin 30mm automatic cannons.

The rooftop-mounted Pantsir-SMD-E is a drone-focused variant that drops the cannons in favor of two missile types.

The 95Ya6 is effective out to about 20 kilometers, while the smaller TKB-1055 targets small threats at up to 7 kilometers and altitudes near 5 kilometers, backed by an active electronically scanned radar with a detection range of around 24 kilometers.

The S-400, by contrast, is a long-range system that anchors the outer tier of the layered defenses.

By July 20, Russia had already concentrated nearly 100 Pantsir positions and around 25 S-300 and S-400 batteries around Moscow, yet Ukrainian drones still reached logistics and fuel facilities 20 to 30 kilometers from the capital.

That same night, strike drones hit an oil depot and four major logistics facilities near Moscow, setting off at least five fires across the region.

On July 21, Ukraine's 15th "Black Forest" brigade destroyed a Pantsir-S1 guarding a Russian airfield at Khalino in the Kursk region.

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