This footage reportedly shows Russian ‘Grad’ multiple launch rocket systems firing on Ukrainian positions.
The clip purports to show Russian soldiers loading up a Grad vehicle before it and others take up position in a field. They can then be seen opening fire on unseen targets, launching their ordnance into the sky.
The footage then reportedly shows Grad vehicles carrying out missile launches at night.
The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Friday, 26th August, along with a statement claiming that they show “footage of the combat work of the crews of ‘Grad’ multiple launch rocket systems of the Western Military District during the performance of fire missions to destroy the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the zone of the special military operation during the day and at night.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 184th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 26th August, Russia had lost about 46,250 personnel, 1,936 tanks, 4,251 armoured combat vehicles, 1,040 artillery units, 272 multiple launch rocket systems, 148 air defence systems, 234 warplanes, 202 helicopters, 834 drones, 196 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,162 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 99 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was temporarily disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in almost 40 years of operation, as a result of shelling that cut the last remaining power line to the facility, according to the country’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom.
Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, said the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog could go to the plant in the “coming days”.
The White House has called on Russia to accept a demilitarised area around the plant after US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talked on Wednesday, Ukraine’s 31st independence day.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million soldiers.
Latvia has taken down a Soviet-era obelisk in its capital, Riga, amid criticism from Russia and protest from the Baltic country’s ethnic Russian minority. The 79-metre (261-foot) obelisk was at the heart of a monument to commemorate the Red Army’s victory over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has issued a decree stating that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes are to be destroyed by 15th November.
