Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has completed its thirteenth month this weekend, but the conflict still has no end in sight. The clashes between the troops of both sides have been concentrating in Bakhmut in recent weeks, and Putin does not stop raising his tone to show strength in front of the international community and his own citizens. However, Ukraine resists and continues to reap both military and psychological victories.
The 95th Ukrainian Brigade boasted this weekend of having seized a Russian army Kornet missile launcher, a weapon intended for tank destruction, at a time when the Russian offensive is being forced to salvage tanks from the late 1940s.
The kornet missiles They are the same ones that the Russian state company Rostec boasted about in February, assuring that they were capable of destroying the Leopard battleships that some Western countries – such as Spain – have provided or promised to Ukraine.
The Kornet, fully assembled.
Reuters
It is a device that is usually carried by two soldiers, although only one can carry it and its 37 kilos of weight including the projectile. They anchor to the ground and shoot easily, making them very versatile on the battlefield. The Russian army has had them since 1998.
The projectiles are laser guided, they are about 15 centimeters in diameter and 1.2 meters long. With their weight of more than eight kilos, they are capable of traveling five kilometres.
The missile launcher is generally carried by two soldiers.
Reuters
The finding is added to the attack denounced by the Russian news agency TASS that would have occurred in the Russian region of Tula, just over 200 kilometers from Moscow. In the city of Kirevsk, a Ukrainian drone exploded after 3:00 p.m. local time, injuring three people who have been affected by shrapnel although their lives are not in danger, according to the state source.
Russia tightens the rope even more
This weekend has been marked by the agreement between Russia and Belarus so that the first can bet nuclear missile launch devices on Belarusian soil. Although the country led by Lukashenko has been allowed to serve as a gateway to Ukraine for Russian troops since the beginning of the conflict, this represents another step in the policy of pressure between Putin and the West.
The Russian leader, however, has stressed that he is not mobilizing nuclear warheads to Belarus, which would be a violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In this way, if the information provided by the Kremlin is accurate, this step does not pose an immediate or direct nuclear threatsomething already pointed out among others by the United States Ministry of Defense.
Putin’s decision, however, has received the condemnation of the international communitywhile the Russian president has underlined the fact that for decades the West has placed this type of launch device in Poland.
For his part, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, requested this Sunday in a statement the meeting of the G7 and the Security Council of the United Nations to warn Belarus of the “far-reaching consequences” of allowing Russia to install tactical nuclear weapons on its territory.
Kuleba stressed that, with this measure, Russia “confirms its chronic incapacity to be a responsible manager of nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence and prevention of war, not as a tool of threat and intimidation.”
