Remember when the "Oreshnik" fell on garages near Kyiv? Ukrainians reveal which system allowed them to divert the missile from a military target

Imagine: you are driving along a Ukrainian road at a speed of about 60 km/h, and suddenly an air raid siren sounds. A moment later, the navigator shows that the car is flying over South America at nearly 270 km/h and is about to "land" in Lima.

This is exactly what happened to journalists from The New York Times. For many Kyiv residents, such disruptions have already become a regular occurrence. They complicate the work of taxi drivers and couriers, and send smartphone and smartwatch owners on virtual journeys 12,000 kilometers away to the capital of Peru. To avoid getting lost, people increasingly use paper maps, download offline maps in advance, or simply memorize the route before traveling.

The reason for these inconveniences is quite unexpected: this is how the Ukrainian defense system against Russian missiles and drones operates.

How to fool a missile

Russian missiles and drones navigate partly using satellite signals, just like standard navigators. The Ukrainian system does not simply jam these signals, but replaces them with fake ones. As a result, the weapon receives incorrect data about its location and can veer off course. This kind of substitution is known as spoofing.

This principle is used by the Ukrainian electronic warfare system Lima, developed by the company Cascade Systems. Nearly four years ago, its specialists began creating antennas capable of knocking Russian weapons off course. A territorial defense unit called "Night Watch" joined the effort, helping to refine the system.

Early versions disrupted the navigation of some Russian drones and cruise missiles. However, the Russians gradually adapted to the interference, in particular by installing additional antennas on their weapons. In response, Ukrainian engineers continued to improve their design.

In August 2025, a new version of the system—Lima Quant—was deployed around Kyiv. Its antennas work together, creating a dome of electromagnetic interference over the capital.

Why Lima specifically

Initially, the developers intended to spoof coordinates differently for each Ukrainian city. One was supposed to transport navigators to the Tower of London, another to Mount Everest, and a third to the famous Avenue of the Baobabs in Madagascar.

In the end, however, they decided to use a single location—Lima. It is located very far from Ukraine, and the fake coordinates became a kind of signature for the system, allowing its operation to be distinguished from other electronic warfare tools.

The commander of "Night Watch," using the callsign Alchemist, calls this an "Easter egg" that the developers embedded into the system right from the start.

According to Cascade Systems, in the first three months of 2026 alone, Lima helped divert more than 30 cruise missiles and 10,000 drones away from their targets.

Alchemist claims that out of 62 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles that flew through Lima Quant's operational zones, 33 broke apart in mid-air, while others deviated from their set trajectories. According to the developers, spoofing coordinates can force a missile to make a sharp trajectory shift, which sometimes leads to its structural failure.

According to Alchemist, the most illustrative case was the attack on May 24, 2026, when Russia launched two of its latest "Oreshnik" ballistic missiles at Kyiv Oblast. Moscow had claimed that these missiles travel at speeds that prevent American Patriot systems from intercepting them.

According to Alchemist, Ukrainian military forces received advance warning of the launch from American intelligence and utilized the Lima Quant system against the missiles. He stated that the first missile was successfully diverted from its military target and hit garages several kilometers away. The second missile broke apart in mid-air, and its wreckage fell on Russian-occupied territory.

NYT journalists were able to visit a position where six Lima Quant antennas were deployed. In appearance, they proved completely inconspicuous. The military declined to show the equipment in detail, but assured that the benefits of the system far outweigh the inconveniences it creates for civilians. Especially now, as Ukraine faces a deficit of Patriot interceptor missiles.

However, the military themselves are not immune to the unexpected consequences of Lima's operation. One serviceman recounted the story of an acquaintance whose new BMW suddenly demanded urgent scheduled maintenance. The car decided it had already driven about 10,000 kilometers from Lima without an oil change.

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