According to its own statements, the Russian army has once again destroyed Western military technology in Ukraine. In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, two launch sites for US Himars missiles were hit on a factory site, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday. Not far from the Black Sea metropolis of Odessa, Russian troops had destroyed a device for Harpoon anti-ship missiles, also supplied by the United States.
The statements could not be independently verified. Experts point out that the Himar rocket launchers are difficult to locate and destroy. The Ukrainian authorities reported on Sunday that two Russian missiles had been fired from the annexed Crimea peninsula at the Odessa region. According to her account, however, the projectiles hit a quarry.
Western military aid, with which Ukraine says it is launching counter-offensives that have been successful in some cases, is a thorn in Russia’s side. Moscow also repeatedly uses the alleged destruction of these weapons to justify attacks on the neighboring country.
Archive image: Tony Overman/The Olympian/AP/dpa