MOSCOW: The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday its air defence forces shot down four U.S.-produced long-range missiles over the Crimea peninsular, weapons known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) that Washington has shipped to Ukraine in recent weeks. The ministry said later that Russian aircraft and air defence systems had downed a total of 15 ATACMS in the past week.
Russian officials said Ukraine had attacked Crimea with ATACMS in an attempt to pierce Russian air defences of the annexed peninsula but that six had been shot down.
A U.S. official said in Washington last month that the United States secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine in recent weeks.
The ATACMS missiles, with a range up to 300 km were used for the first time in the early hours of April 17, launched against a Russian airfield in Crimea that was about 165 km from the Ukrainian front lines, the official said.
The Pentagon initially opposed the long-range missile deployment, concerned that taking the missiles from the American stockpile would hurt U.S. military readiness.
There were also concerns that Ukraine would use them to attack targets deep inside Russia, a step which could lead to an escalation of the war towards a direct confrontation between Russia and the United States.
Separately on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said that in the last week its forces had destroyed a military train carrying equipment and arms produced in the West and supplied to Ukraine by Nato.
The scale of the damage, exact date and location were not disclosed. On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron promised 3 billion pounds of annual military aid for Ukraine for "as long as it takes", adding that London had no objection to its weapons being used inside Russia, drawing a strong rebuke from Moscow.
Meanwhile, Russia has opened a criminal case against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and put him on a wanted list, the state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, citing the Interior Ministry's database. The entry it cited gave no further details.
Russia has issued arrest warrants for a number of Ukrainian and other European politicians since the start of the conflict with Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian police in February put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments. Russia also issued an arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor who last year prepared a warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
