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Moscow claimed Monday that four US-made missiles were shot down by its air defence systems over a southern Russian region bordering Ukraine. This is the first time Russia has made such a claim since it started the war in Ukraine 10 months back.
“Four American ‘HARM’ anti-radar missiles were shot down in the airspace over the Belgorod region,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on social media, referring to a region that says it is regularly hit by Ukrainian strikes.
HARM missiles have a range of more than 48 kilometres and are designed to “seek and destroy” radar-equipped air defense systems, according to the US Air Force.
The missiles were deployed for the first time in 1984 and have been adapted to be fired from Kyiv’s Soviet-era warplanes. The West has been supplying Ukraine with weapons to help it in its war against Russia, leading to several setbacks for Kremlin.
On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said the situation in the four areas of Ukraine that Moscow declared a part of Russia was “extremely difficult”. He has ordered security services to step up surveillance to secure its borders and combat new threats.
Speaking on Security Services Day, Putin said, amid the “emergence of new threats” means that there is a greater need for intelligence activity.
“Work must be intensified through the border services and the Federal Security Service (FSB),” Putin said.
“Any attempts to violate it (the border) must be thwarted quickly and effectively using whatever forces and means we have at our disposal, including mobile action units and special forces,” he added.
Putin also visited Belarus on Monday for the first time since 2019, raising fears he might pressure Minsk to open a new invasion front.
Meanwhile, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region, claimed that residential and industrial buildings were hit by shelling, leaving one dead and 10 injured.
“Yesterday was an extremely difficult day. There was shelling from the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” said Gladkov in a post on the messaging app Telegram on Monday.
On the other hand, Russia hit “critical infrastructure” in Kyiv and private houses near the region early Monday, Ukrainian authorities said. In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said a total of 30 Iranian drones were shot down. The Ukrainian military high command had earlier out the figure at 23 out of 28 drones.
This was the third time in the last six days that Moscow had launched an air strike against Kyiv. Moscow has been continuously attacking the Ukrainian power grid, causing blackouts amid sub-zero temperatures.
No casualties were reported as a result of the drone strikes, the Ukrainian military high command said in its evening update, though nine buildings were damaged in the Kyiv region.
(With inputs from agencies)
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