LONDON, October 2. /TASS/. Western and Ukrainian officials point out that Russia has upgraded its ballistic missiles to more effectively evade Patriot air defense systems, the Financial Times reports.

Kiev’s interception rates have dropped as enemy strikes dodge interceptors in the final seconds, the newspaper notes, adding that strikes on Ukrainian drone production facilities are "a prominent example of Russia improving its ballistic missiles to better defeat US Patriot batteries."

According to the Financial Times, US deliveries of air defense interceptors have slowed down, while "the missile campaign has destroyed key military facilities and critical infrastructure ahead of winter."

Ukraine shares Patriot engagement data with the Pentagon and US defense companies, including Raytheon, which makes the Patriot system, and Lockheed Martin, which produces the system’s interceptor missiles, the paper writes, citing Western and Ukrainian officials. According to one of them, the data is used to make updates needed to keep pace with Russia’s adjustments, but those improvements often lag behind "Moscow’s evolving tactics."

Ukraine does not disclose the number of Patriot batteries it has, "but at least six are known to have been delivered, with components of at least an additional three delivered in recent weeks by Germany and Norway," the newspaper adds.