This is the moment the Russian military fires several ballistic missiles from a mobile missile system and reportedly destroy Ukrainian command posts and weapons depots.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said they used the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system to blast several enemy targets.
The Russian MoD said on June 19: “Surgical precision: combat work of the Iskander-M.
“During the special military operation, Iskander-M tactical missile systems destroy command posts, communication centers, air defense facilities, and enemy weapons and ammunition depots.”
We contacted Russian and Ukrainian officials for comment but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation” to “liberate the Donbas.” June 20 marks the 117th day of the invasion.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and June 20, Russia had lost about 33,800 personnel, 1,477 tanks, 3,588 armored combat vehicles, 749 artillery units, 235 multiple launch rocket systems, 98 air defense systems, 216 warplanes, 181 helicopters, 601 drones, 130 cruise missiles, 14 warships, 2,527 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 55 units of special equipment.
Washington has told China it risks ending up on the “wrong side of history” following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Beijing supports Russian “sovereignty.”
Thousands of civilians remain trapped in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, where the water supply is reported to be dwindling. Hundreds of civilians are taking shelter in the bunkers beneath the city’s Azot chemical plant.
Luhansk Oblast governor Serhiy Haidai said all three bridges into Sievierodonetsk had been destroyed, making delivering supplies and evacuating civilians impossible.
President Joe Biden has promised Kyiv another billion dollars in security assistance and weapons. And the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, says Russia has lost around 20 to 30 percent of its armored force during the ongoing invasion.
Former Russian president and staunch Vladimir Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev has derided French, German, and Italian leaders visiting the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as “fans of frogs, liverwurst and spaghetti.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on June 16.
On June 8, the European Parliament adopted a resolution recommending that the European Union grant Ukraine the status of candidate country for EU membership. In the balloting, 438 members of the European Parliament voted in favor of the resolution, with 65 voting against and 94 abstaining.
