Kiev has lost US- and Polish-made weapons on the front lines, Russia’s Defense Ministry says
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian servicemen set the firing position of a Polish 155mm self-propelled tracked gun-howitzer Krab. © AFP / Dimitar Dilkoff
Moscow’s military struck several Western-supplied and Soviet-era systems during the latest fighting in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry has said.
During the past 24 hours, a US-made Paladin self-propelled howitzer was eliminated by counter-battery fire in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Two American-supplied M777 howitzers were also destroyed – one in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and another in Kherson Region, it added.
According to the ministry, a Polish Krab self-propelled howitzer was blown up by the Russian military near the city of Kupyansk in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region.
Around a dozen Soviet-era artillery systems have also been neutralized along the front line, it revealed.
In the area near the village of Klescheevka, not far from the city of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine), a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down, the ministry continued.
Air defenses have also intercepted three HARM anti-radar missiles and eight projectiles fired by HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
In the DPR, four Ukrainian attempts to advance were thwarted. In the area near the village of Veselyoe, Russian forces also went on a counterattack and “improved their tactical position,” it said.
Ukraine has been conducting a counteroffensive since early June, but Kiev has so far only reported the capture of a handful of small villages some distance from the main Russian defense lines. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Ukraine had already lost more than 71,000 troops and over 540 tanks since the beginning of the operation, while failing to achieve any significant gains on the battlefield.
READ MORE: Kiev suffering heavy armor losses on Zaporozhye front – WaPo
