Ukrainian and British officials have warned that Russian forces are relying on weapons capable of inflicting mass casualties on civilians as they try to make headway in the fight to capture parts of the east. Ukraine.
British bombers may have launched dozens of heavy anti-ship missiles from the 1960s during ground attacks in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.
The Kh-22 missile is mainly designed to destroy aircraft carriers using nuclear warheads.
When such missiles are used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they “have high accuracy and can therefore cause serious damage and casualties,” the ministry said.
Russia is likely to use 5.5-ton anti-ship missiles because it lacks more accurate modern missiles, the British Ministry said.
The ministry did not provide details on where exactly such missiles are believed to have been deployed in Ukraine.
Both Russian and Ukrainian forces used large amounts of weapons in what became a war of attrition for the eastern region of the mines and coal plants known as the Donbas, causing great strain on the their weapons and stockpiles.
The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province also accused Russia of using a “flamethrower” missile in the village of Vrubivka, southwest of the fiercely contested cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
While the use of flamethrowers on the battlefield is legal, governor Serhiy Haidai accused the overnight attacks of causing widespread damage to civilian homes.
Latest Defense Intelligence Update on the situation in Ukraine – June 11, 2022
Learn more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/7sAMSXqHpa
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/0H4JnqeYFy
– Ministry of Defense 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 11, 2022
“At night, the enemy used a flamethrower missile system – many houses were burned down,” Haidai wrote on Telegram on Saturday, adding that information about the number of victims in Vrubivka, in the Popasnyanska district, is being be collected.
Haidai also said Russian forces were destroying important industrial facilities, including a railway depot, a brick factory and a glass factory. The governor’s statements could not be immediately verified.
Ukrainian government adviser Anton Gerashchenko accused Russian forces of using lethal weapons to inflict damage, including against agricultural targets. On Saturday, Gerashchenko posted a video on twitter that allegedly showed Ukrainian troops trying to put out a fire caused by shelling on wheat fields.
The Russian military deliberately threw missiles at the wheat fields.
The Ukrainian army now needs not only to fight the Russian army, but also to protect the crops.#GenocideOfUkrainians #UkraineRussianWar pic.twitter.com/ZRm1aclQax– Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 11, 2022
In May, Gerashchenko posted a video on Telegram claiming to show the Russian military using incendiary phosphorus projectiles in the Donbas.
White phosphorus, which ignites violently when exposed to air, is commonly used in combat and is not legally classified as a chemical weapon. However, phosphorus is controversial because it causes widespread damage and is used illegally in civilian areas.
In April, British defense sources said they believed white phosphorus had been used in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine.
Russia attacks the east
The Ukrainian military also said on Saturday that Russian forces were regrouping to launch an attack on the city of Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast.
Moscow-backed rebels have controlled the self-proclaimed republics of both Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014, while Russia has not. try to catch territories are still under Ukrainian control.
Donetsk and Luhansk make up the Donbas region combined.
Donetsk regional police said Russian missiles hit 13 towns and villages in the province overnight. In a statement, police said civilians were killed and injured, but did not specify a number.
During Saturday’s visit to Kyiv by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy called for a new round of European Union sanctions “even stronger” against Russia.
Zelenskyy called for new sanctions to target more Russian officials, including judges, and impede the operations of all Russian banks, including those of gas giant Gazprom. , as well as all the Russian companies that are helping Moscow “in any way”.
Von der Leyen praised Ukraine’s “strength and resilience” in the face of Russia’s “horrible and brutal” invasion and said the EU would support reconstruction so the country could “rise from ashes”.
“We are mourning you. We share the tears with you,” she said.
One of the first European leaders to visit Ukraine during the war, Ms. Von der Leyen is making her second visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February.
