Russia says Western-supplied weapons destroyed in missile strikes

Moscow says Russian forces have managed to destroy large caches of Western-supplied weapons and military equipment in Ukraine with high-precision missiles in overnight strikes.

Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said Thursday Russian forces managed to hit all assigned targets in a series of strikes on Ukraine overnight with high-precision missiles, despite Kiev claiming that it had downed all but one of 30 missiles.

"Last night, Russian forces delivered multiple strikes by seaborne and air-launched long-range high-precision weapons against large foreign armament and equipment depots and enemy reserves," Konashenkov said. 

"The goal of the strikes was achieved. All the designated targets were hit. The strikes destroyed considerable stockpiles of the Ukrainian army’s armaments and ammunition and thwarted the advance of reserves to the areas of combat operations," the general added, according to Russia's news agency TASS.

However, he did not specify which targets had been targeted, only said that seaborne and air-launched precision weapons aimed at "large depots of foreign weapons and equipment as well as enemy reserves."

In the end, Konashenkov said that since the onset of war, the Russian army has destroyed 428 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 234 helicopters, 4,208 drones, 423 surface-to-air missile systems, 9,218 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,100 multiple rocket launchers, 4,843 field artillery guns and mortars and 10,284 special military motor vehicles.

Russia began what it described as a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, as part of a national security measure against the persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance as well as protecting eastern Ukraine's Russian-speaking population against hostile efforts by Kiev.

Since then, the United States and most European Union member countries have supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems despite Russia's repeated warnings that the Western military assistance will only prolong the war.

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Russia slams as 'illegal' a move by Czech govt. against its embassy

Separately on Thursday, Moscow denounced as "illegal" a move by Prague to revoke Soviet-era decrees that granted the Russian embassy free use of land in the Czech capital and other cities, vowing to take measures to defend Russia's interests.

The Czech government on Wednesday canceled orders granting Russia the use of dozens of plots of lands in the 1970s and 1980s by Moscow's then-Communist leaders, stressing that the Kremlin would now have to rent lands.

"The Czech authorities' demand for rent, even for backdated rent, resembles extortion at a state level and violates the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

She also accused Prague of abandoning "a civilized dialog" and of being in thrall to anti-Russian sentiment.

"We will take defensive measures, including legal ones," Zakharova pledged.

The Czech Republic has firmly supported Ukraine's efforts to drive Russian troops from its territory, providing Kiev with military assistance. 

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