‘Judgment Day’ Warning as Russia Hunts Ukraine’s US-Made HIMARS
- ‘Judgment Day’ Warning as Russia Hunts Ukraine’s US-Made HIMARS
by https://www.scmp.com/
* Russia targets Ukraine’s missiles as Western-supplied weapons hit supply lines
* Ex-president Dmitry Medvedev warns enemies against attacking Crimea
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Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered generals to prioritise destroying Ukraine’s long-range missile and artillery weapons after Western-supplied weapons were used to strike Russian supply lines.
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Nearly five months since President Vladimir Putin ordered the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces are grinding through the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and now occupy around a fifth of the country.
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Shoigu, one of Putin’s closest allies, inspected the Vostok group which is fighting in Ukraine, the defence ministry said. Shoigu “instructed the commander to give priority to the enemy’s long-range missile and artillery weapons,” the defence ministry said.
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The ministry said the weapons were being used to shell residential areas of Russian-controlled Donbas and to deliberately set fire to wheat fields and grain storage silos. Ukraine says it has carried out a string of successful strikes on 30 Russian logistics and ammunitions hubs, using several multiple launch rocket systems recently supplied by the West.
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On Sunday, the Russian military said it had destroyed numerous weapons supplied by the United States and other Nato countries, including an advanced rocket system. Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said a depot in the Black Sea port of Odesa that stored Harpoon anti-ship missiles was hit, while a US-supplied HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system was struck in the eastern Donetsk region. Russia’s claim could not be independently verified.
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Crimea is of particular strategic importance to Russia as it includes the headquarters of its Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol. Another prized target would be the 18km (11-mile) bridge that links the Black Sea peninsula with mainland Russia.
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That prospect of an attack on Crimea prompted a warning from Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, who said such an attack would trigger devastating consequences for the Ukrainian leadership. In the event of an attack on Crimea, Medvedev was quoted by Tass news agency on Sunday as saying: “Judgment Day will come very fast and hard. It will be very difficult to hide”.
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