Direct proof of use
The 1L125 Niobium-SV appears in the Russia-Ukraine war as a Russian air-defense radar rather than as a Ukrainian-operated system. OpenSanctions, aggregating official sanctions datasets, quotes a Swiss sanctions rationale stating that 1L125 Niobium-SV radars created by NNIIRT are used in Russia's war against Ukraine and are in service with the Russian army.
Open-source loss tracking and Ukrainian reporting provide more concrete battlefield evidence. Oryx lists a visually documented Russian 1L125 Niobium-SV multi-functional radar destroyed during the invasion of Ukraine, while Militarnyi reported that Ukraine's 14th UAV Regiment struck a Russian Niobium-SV radar in the Kharkiv sector in summer 2024.
Sources: OpenSanctions NNIIRT Sanctions Profile, Oryx Russian Niobium-SV Loss, Militarnyi Kharkiv Niobium-SV Strike
Documented strike chronology
By March 2025, Ukrainian intelligence reporting described Niobium-SV radars among Russian air-defense assets hit in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian Pravda reported a GUR statement that two 1L125 Niobium-SV radars were among Russian radar systems struck there, and The War Zone reported the same GUR-claimed target set in its account of the Crimea air-defense attack.
GUR later published official video pages naming Niobium-SV in two separate strike contexts. On July 1, 2025, GUR said Ukrainian UJ-26 Bober drones struck Russian systems in occupied Crimea, including a Niobium-SV radar and other air-defense or aviation targets at Saky. On July 19, 2025, GUR said its Prymary unit hit Russian air-defense equipment on the Donetsk axis, including two Niobium-SV radar stations, three Podlet radars, two S-300V launchers, and a P-18 radar.
On November 29, 2025, Ukrainian military-intelligence drones again struck Russian air-defense assets in Donbas. Interfax-Ukraine and Defense Express reported that the destroyed targets included a 9A83 launcher from the S-300V system and two 1L125 Niobium-SV radar stations that were on combat duty. In May 2026, New Voice of Ukraine reported a Ukrainian General Staff confirmation of a May 24 strike on a Russian 1L125 Niobium-SV radar station near Yarsk in Luhansk Oblast.
Sources: Ukrainian Pravda Crimea Radar Strike, The War Zone Crimea Air Defense Strike, GUR Bober Crimea Niobium-SV Video, GUR Prymary Donbas Niobium-SV Strike, Interfax GUR Donbas Niobium-SV Strike, Defense Express Donbas Niobium-SV Strike, New Voice of Ukraine Yarsk Niobium-SV Strike
Role in Russian air defense
Niobium-SV is documented as a mobile VHF or meter-band three-coordinate radar for detecting, tracking, identifying, and reporting air targets. Rosoboronexport's 1L125E export profile lists 360-degree surveillance, target identification, interference-source direction finding, and radar-information output to users; GlobalSecurity describes the radar as a Russian mobile VHF-band system used by air-defense units against small or low-observable air targets.
The conflict reporting connects that sensor role to Russian layered air-defense coverage. GUR and Ukrainian reporting described Niobium-SV radars alongside S-300V launchers, Pantsir-S1 systems, Podlet radars, and other radar assets, indicating that the system was being used as part of Russia's broader surveillance and target-acquisition network rather than as a standalone weapon.
Sources: Rosoboronexport 1L125E Product Page, GlobalSecurity Niobium-SV Profile, GUR Prymary Donbas Niobium-SV Strike, Interfax GUR Donbas Niobium-SV Strike, Defense Express Donbas Niobium-SV Strike
