These images show Ukrainian special forces taking out a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile system in a huge explosion using an American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system.
The footage shows the moment the Russian war machine is hit by Ukrainian ordnance, with a huge fireball erupting into the air as it is destroyed.
The images obtained from the Command of the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Tuesday, 26th March, along with a statement saying: “A BUK enemy air defence system in the Zaporizhzhia direction was DESTROYED.”
The statement also said: “Operators of the 3rd separate regiment of the SSO during reconnaissance operations in the Zaporizhzhia direction discovered the enemy’s BUK anti-aircraft missile system.
“The operators aimed the HIMARS fire of the missile and artillery unit of the Defense Forces at the enemy target. As a result of fire damage, the BUK air defence system destroyed.”
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February 2022 and 28th March 2024. Russia had lost approximately 439,970 personnel, 6,914 tanks, 13,237 armoured combat vehicles, 10,963 artillery units, 1,021 multiple launch rocket systems, 729 air defence systems, 347 warplanes, 325 helicopters, 8,600 drones, 2,017 cruise missiles, 26 warships, 1 submarine, 14,595 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 1,800 units of special equipment.
Ukrainian Forces Destroy Russian TOR Anti-Aircraft Missile System With HIMARS
Ukraine downed 26 Russian drones overnight, according to Mykola Oleshchuk, the head of Ukraine’s Air Force. The drones were destroyed in a number of regions including Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia.
Russia bombed residential areas, killing one civilian and injuring 16. The airstrikes caused significant damage to buildings and the city’s Institute for Emergency Surgery in Kharkiv.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, denounced the attack as “Russian terror.”
The head of Kharkiv’s regional police, Volodymyr Tymoshko, suggested that Russia may have used a new type of guided bomb, called the UMPB D-30. Regional governor Oleh Synehubov expressed concerns that Russians were testing modified bombs on civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin informed Russian military pilots that supplying F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would not change the battlefield situation. But acknowledged their potential to carry nuclear weapons, impacting Moscow’s military strategy.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that the jets are expected to arrive in Ukraine in the coming months.
A Russian court has sentenced Lucy Shtein, a member of Pussy Riot and former Moscow deputy. To six years in prison for anti-war social media posts in absentia.
Russia Says It Hit Ukrainian Military Positions With Iskander Missile System
Shtein, 27, accused Russian soldiers of bombing foreign cities and killing people on Twitter in March 2022. She fled house arrest in Moscow to Iceland after the invasion and reportedly holds Icelandic citizenship.
Over 19,855 people have detained in Russia for expressing anti-war views since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to monitoring group OVD-Info.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss support for Ukraine with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris next week, the US State Department has announced.
Blinken will then travel to Brussels for talks with NATO foreign ministers ahead of the alliance’s 75th-anniversary summit in Washington in July.
Blinken will also hold a three-way meeting in Brussels with EU leaders and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Who aims to diversify Armenia’s alliances beyond Russia.
