A retired Cold War S-125 surface-to-air missile system is being returned to active duty of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to a press release from Ukraine Air Force released on Thursday.

The details were given in a 6 August media release, to announce that the Soviet-designed S-125 missile system takes part in tactical exercises in the Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia.

S-125 medium-altitude Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) systems of the Ukrainian Air Force were retired in 2013.

S-125 SAM is intended for protecting political and administrative centers, strategic civil and military sites, friendly forces against various means of enemy air attack. Also, the missile system is capable of killing ground and water- surface radar contrast targets with known coordinates.

The missiles of the S-125 system are deployed on fixed turrets containing two or four but can be carried ready-to-fire on ZIL trucks in pairs. Reloading the fixed launchers takes a few minutes.

The S-125 was first deployed between 1961 and 1964 around Moscow, augmenting the S-25 and S-75 sites already ringing the city, as well as in other parts of the USSR.