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Russia destroys US-made Harpoon launchers in Ukraine

File photo shows the moment of the launch of a US-made Harpoon anti-ship missile.

The Russian military says it has destroyed more US-made weapons in Ukraine, where Moscow has been conducting a special military operation since February.

Reporting on Tuesday, Russia Today cited the military as announcing that it had laid waste to “several Harpoon anti-ship missile units” during a strike targeting the southern Ukrainian region of Odessa.

Several Western nations have supplied Ukraine with the Harpoon which is an anti-ship missile system made by Boeing.

The report on Tuesday identified the type of the projectiles used during the strike as Iskander short-range ballistic missiles.

The exact whereabouts of the mission was reported as the vicinity of the village of Berezan, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of the port city of Odessa, the administrative center of the region.

On Sunday, the Russian military said its forces had destroyed two Ukrainian army hangars storing US-made M777 howitzers in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region.

And on July 6, Russia said it had crushed two US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missile launchers near the frontline in a village south of the city of Kramatorsk, which is likewise located in Donetsk.

Ukraine has been the subject of the Russian operation since February 24. Russia says the operation is aimed at “demilitarizing” the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.

Back in 2014, Donetsk and its neighboring Luhansk region—which together form the Donbas—declared themselves independent republics, refusing to recognize Ukraine’s Western-backed government. The declaration of independence was ensued by a conflict between the region’s pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian military.

Ordering the operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years were suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”

Ukraine’s Western allies, most notably the US, have committed billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Kiev since the launch of the Russian operation.

On July 1, the United States unveiled another $820 million weapons package for Ukraine, taking the total of Washington’s military aid to Kiev under President Joe Biden to $7.6 billion.

Late last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the more Western countries sent weapons to Ukraine the longer the conflict would last.


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