The Russian Grad multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a powerful, versatile, truck-mounted artillery system designed to deliver devastating firepower over a wide area.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has released footage showing Russian artillerymen using Grad MLRS to deliver heavy fire on the enemy. The crews continue to hit Ukrainian positions on Ukrainian territory bordering the Belgorod region, the ministry said.
The artillerymen of Battlegroup Zapad work around the clock to destroy camouflaged firing positions, ammunition and energy facilities, fortifications, military hardware, and enemy personnel, as per the ministry.
WATCH Russian military strike US-made Abrams tank in Donbass
The Russian military has hit another US-supplied M1 Abrams tank operated by Ukrainian forces, according to a regional official who shared footage of the strike. The Defense Ministry in Moscow has confirmed the destruction of a tank of this type, but did not provide details.
The American-made tank was taken out of action by a kamikaze drone, Sergey Lezhnev, an adviser to the governor of Russia’s Orel Region, claimed on his Telegram channel.
The strike happened near the village of Berdychi in the Yasinovatsky district of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), in an offensive conducted by the Central Group of Forces, he added.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow also said the Russian military had improved its frontline positions and repulsed seven Ukrainian army attacks in the Avdeevka area in Donbass. Kiev’s forces lost 95 personnel, three tanks, including a US-made Abrams, two infantry fighting vehicles, nine motor vehicles, two US-manufactured M777 howitzers, and two D-30 artillery guns, the ministry reported.
US-made Abrams tanks made their long-expected appearance on the front line in late February amid the Ukrainian effort to halt advancing Russian troops after the fall of Avdeevka. A batch of 31 M1 Abrams tanks was pledged to Kiev by Washington early last year, ahead of the ultimately disastrous Ukrainian counteroffensive. The delivery was made in full only by mid-October, when the botched push had already largely been exhausted.
NATO general warns of Russian ‘trap’ for Ukraine
Moscow has forced Kiev to choose between losing men or territory, according to retired French General Jerome Pellistrandi, the editor-in-chief of the Revue Defense Nationale.
In an interview for the French outlet La Depeche published on Wednesday, Pellistrandi pointed out that Russian forces have made advances ever since the Ukrainians’ chaotic retreat from Avdeevka in mid-February, and are now approaching Chasov Yar and Kharkov.
“Moscow has in fact presented a tactical dilemma to the Ukrainian command, forcing it to choose between protecting territory at the risk of taking significant losses, or retreating and thus giving up ground,” Pellistrandi said.
In addition to advances west of Avdeevka, Russian troops recently took the town of Krasnoe (known in Ukraine as Ivanivske), west of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), the general noted.
“This reflects this desire to exhaust the enemy,” he said. “Moscow knows very well that Kiev lacks [artillery] shells and, by relentlessly shelling these territories, [President Vladimir] Putin is ultimately preventing the Ukrainians from rebuilding their defenses. This is a way of forcing them to give up ground and exhaust their stock of weapons.”
Recent remarks by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu seem to line up with Pellistrandi’s analysis. Speaking to a defense panel last week, Shoigu said the Russian military is pushing the Ukrainians back and not allowing them to fortify new defensive positions. He also estimated Ukraine’s casualties since the beginning of the year at 71,000 men and 11,000 pieces of equipment.
According to Pellistrandi, Russian troops are aiming for both Chasov Yar and Kramatorsk, a key crossroads for Ukrainian logistics in Donbass. Its loss would be “dramatic” for Kiev and pose “serious strategic and logistical difficulties,” he said.
Kharkov also came under heavy bombardment last week, Pellistrandi said, adding that Ukraine is on the defensive along the entire front and urgently needs more ammunition.
Revue Defense Nationale is considered France’s preeminent military publication. Founded in 1939, it is traditionally led by a general officer. Pellistrandi has been editor-in-chief since 2014. In 2022, he also joined the French outlet BFMTV as a military expert.
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