Russia destroys US-made radar system, downs HIMARS missiles

Russian forces have destroyed a US-made radar system and advanced US-made missiles in eastern Ukraine.

In its daily briefing, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday that two High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and AN/MPQ-64 radar systems in use by Ukrainian forces were destroyed in the Donetsk region.

On Wednesday, the ministry said that Russian forces destroyed a German-supplied Gepard anti-aircraft system in use by Ukrainian forces in the Mykolaiv region.

The defense ministry also said it had shot down three Ukrainian warplanes in the Mykolaiv region, as well as seven HIMARS missiles in the neighboring Kherson region.

Russia has repeatedly warned that US and NATO shipments of weapons systems to Ukraine add fuel to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev and could bring unpredictable consequences.

In the meantime, Western countries pledged an additional $1.55 billion in aid to Ukraine's Kiev regime.

Western countries pledge over $1.55 bln in aid to Ukraine military

Western countries have pledged over $1.55 billion in assistance to the Ukraine military.

"We will continue to assist Ukraine in its military needs," Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov told journalists at the end of a conference of defense ministers of 26 European countries in the Danish capital of Copenhagen on Thursday.

In the meantime, Moscow accuses Kiev of committing atrocities against the ethnic Russians in the two self-proclaimed breakaway Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Since the onset of Russia's special military operation in the Donbas in late February with the aim of “defending people who for eight years were suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime”, the United States and its European allies have poured billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons inside the ex-Soviet country.

The years-long conflict has killed more than 14,000 people, mostly in the Donbas.

With more than five months passing since the Donbas conflict intensified, Russia has warned the US and its European allies once more that sending weapons to Ukraine will only prolong the war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the more weapons arrive in the country, the longer the war will last.

More Western weapons for Ukraine to mean longer war: Russia

Russia has warned the United States and its Western allies against sending weapons to Ukraine, saying the more weapons arrive in the country, the longer the war will last.

“The more they pump weapons into Ukraine, the longer this conflict will last, and the longer the agony of the Nazi regime, which is supported by the Western capitals, will continue,” Lavrov warned.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov also raised concern about “the reckless and unanswered flooding of Ukraine with arms.”

Antonov said that the move would “only tightens the conflict spiral and increases the threat of the further escalation with unpredictable consequences.”

“However, Washington’s ruling circles, blinded by the idea to weaken Russia, are still not capable to rationally assess the whole danger of their moves,” the ambassador noted.

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