Trump shot in ear at US election campaign rally after major security lapse

Donald Trump was shot in the ear in an attempted assassination during a campaign rally on Saturday, an attack that will likely reshape this year’s U.S. presidential race while raising sharp questions about security provided to the Republican candidate.

In the moments after the shooting, Trump was swarmed and covered up by his security agents. He quickly emerged from the scrum, his face streaked with blood, and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The Trump campaign later said he was "doing well" and appeared to have suffered no major injury besides a wound on his upper right ear.

Early on Sunday the FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the "subject involved" in what it termed an attempted assassination. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records.

The suspect was shot dead by Secret Service agents, the agency said, after he opened fire from the roof of a building about 140 metres from the stage where Trump was speaking. An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle was recovered near his body.

One person who attended the rally was killed and two other spectators were critically wounded, the Secret Service said.

Law enforcement officials told reporters they had not yet identified a motive for the attack.

Trump, 78, had just started his speech when the shots rang out. He grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium before Secret Service agents covered him. He emerged about a minute later, his red "Make America Great Again" hat knocked off. He could be heard saying "wait, wait," before pumping his fist in the air. Agents then rushed him to a black SUV.

"I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear," Trump said later on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. "Much bleeding took place." Trump left the Butler area under Secret Service protection and later arrived at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The attack was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan. It raised immediate questions about security failures by the Secret Service, which provides former presidents including Trump with lifetime protection. The FBI said it had taken the lead in investigating the attack.

The shooting occurred less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls including those by Reuters/Ipsos show the two locked in a close contest.

Investors said that the attack and Trump's defiant response would likely increase his chances of winning back the White House, and trades betting on his victory will increase this coming week.

Trump is due to receive his party's formal nomination at the Republican National Convention, which kicks off in Milwaukee on Monday.

FOUR SHOTS AND THE CROWD DUCKS

Ron Moose, a Trump supporter at the rally, said he heard about four shots. "I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked, also real quick," he said. "Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as they could. We are talking within a second they were all protecting him." The BBC interviewed a man who said he saw a man armed with a rifle crawling up a roof near the event. The self-described eyewitness, who the BBC did not identify, said he and the people he was with started pointing at the man, trying to alert security.

The shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, the agency said.

At a briefing late on Saturday, FBI officials told reporters it was surprising that the suspect was able to fire multiple shots. The Secret Service did not have a representative at that briefing.

Hours after the attack, the Oversight Committee in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives summoned U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he is assisted by the Secret Service after gunfire rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 13, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Purchase Licensing Rights

"Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump," the panel said in a statement on social media.

Trump supporters blasted the Secret Service.

"How was a sniper with a full rifle kit allowed to bear crawl onto the closest roof to a presidential nominee," asked conservative activist Jack Posobiec on social media site X.

Reuters Graphics

REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS DECRY VIOLENCE

Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence, as did foreign leaders.

"There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it," Biden said in a statement.

Biden's campaign was pausing its television ads and halting all other outbound communication, a campaign official said.

The attack heightened longstanding worries that political violence could erupt during the presidential campaign and after the election. The concerns in part reflect the electorate's polarization, with the country appearing bitterly divided into two camps with divergent political and social visions.

"This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on social media.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was horrified by what happened and was relieved Trump was safe. "Political violence has no place in our country," he said.

Americans fear rising political violence, recent Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with two out of three respondents to a May survey saying they worried violence could follow the election.

Some of Trump's Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.

"For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America," said U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, who survived a politically motivated shooting in 2017.

"Clearly we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop."

Trump, who served as president from 2017-2021, easily bested his rivals for the Republican nomination early in the campaign. He unified his party around him after its support wavered briefly when his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The businessman and former reality television star entered the year facing a raft of legal worries, including four separate criminal prosecutions.

He was found guilty in late May of trying to cover up hush money payments to a porn star. But the other three prosecutions he faces -- including two for his attempts to overturn his defeat -- have been ground to a halt by various factors, including a Supreme Court decision early this month that found him to be partly immune to prosecution.

Trump contends, without giving evidence, that all four prosecutions have been orchestrated by Biden to try to prevent him from returning to power.

Russian Forces Destroy Ukrainian Explosives Plant and Radar Station

©Sputnik/Stanislav Krasilnikov/ Go to the mediabank

The Russian Armed Forces struck a factory producing explosives for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF) during the special operation in Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Sunday.

"Tactical aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops, and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces groups destroyed a P-18 radar station, and also targeted a factory producing explosives, along with concentrations of UAF personnel and military equipment in 136 areas," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, units from the Dnepr Battlegroup have eliminated up to 105 UAF soldiers, a US-made 155mm M777 howitzer, two 152mm Msta-B howitzers, an Enclave-N electronic warfare station, and two UAF field ammunition depots, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

"Units from the Dnepr group of forces targeted the personnel and equipment of the 65th and 118th mechanized brigades of the UAF, the 35th Marine Brigade, and the 124th and 126th territorial defense brigades in the areas of Novodanilovka, Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporozhye region, Tokarevo in the Kherson region, and the city of Kherson. The Ukrainian Armed Forces losses amounted to up to 105 military personnel, three vehicles, a US-made 155mm M777 howitzer, two 152mm Msta-B howitzers, an Enclave-N electronic warfare station, and two UAF field ammunition depots," the Russian military department stated.

What Advantages Will Russia Have After Disassembling the Storm Shadow Cruise Missile?

The UK and France have been supplying Ukraine with long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles. The Kiev regime began to actively use the missiles to strike civilian facilities on Russian soil, including in the cities of Lugansk and Sevastopol and bridges between the Kherson Region and Crimea.

Russian professionals have taken apart the components of the Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missile, an expert engineer told Sputnik.

"The suspension mounting system and main switch, located in the center section, are removed from this unit along with all electrical circuits and wires. This is done in order to have objective control over subsequent changes in the missile’s design," the expert said.

He went on to explain that once the next missile is disassembled, the technical professionals will be able to identify whether it is the original version, if any design changes have been made, if new components have been incorporated, or if any modifications or even traps have been added.

Russia strikes Ukrainian military-industrial sites, air bases over week

Russian forces delivered 39 strikes by precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) against Ukrainian military-industrial sites and air bases over the past week in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"On July 6-12, the Russian Armed Forces delivered 39 combined strikes by air-launched and seaborne long-range precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, hitting enemy air bases, Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises and their energy facilities, military hardware assembly workshops and warehouses storing naval drones and strike UAVs. The goals of the strikes were achieved. All the designated targets were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicts 1,800 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup North improved its frontline positions and inflicted roughly 1,800 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"During the week, Battlegroup North units improved their forward edge positions and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of four Ukrainian army formations, a marine infantry brigade and three territorial defense brigades. They repelled 26 counterattacks by enemy assault groups," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the week amounted to 1,800 personnel, two tanks, four armored combat vehicles, 22 motor vehicles, 34 field artillery guns, including eight US-made M777 howitzers, and three electronic warfare stations, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts 3,440 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup West improved its tactical position and inflicted roughly 3,440 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup West units improved their tactical position as a result of successful operations and inflicted casualties on formations of four mechanized brigades, a tank brigade, an assault brigade and an airmobile brigade of the Ukrainian army and also three territorial defense brigades. They repelled three counterattacks by enemy assault groups," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the week amounted to "3,440 personnel, five tanks, 14 armored combat vehicles, among them two US-made M113 armored personnel carriers, 47 motor vehicles and 32 field artillery guns," it specified.

In addition, Russian troops destroyed 14 field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts 4,380 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted roughly 4,380 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup South units inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of five mechanized brigades, a motorized infantry brigade, an assault brigade, a mountain assault brigade and two air assault brigades of the Ukrainian army. They repulsed six counterattacks by enemy assault groups," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the week amounted to 4,380 personnel, three tanks, four armored combat vehicles, 90 motor vehicles and 59 field artillery guns, including 27 Western-made weapons, it specified.

Russian troops also destroyed nine electronic warfare stations and 29 field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, the ministry said.

Russia’s Battlegroup Center liberates four communities in DPR over week

Russia’s Battlegroup Center liberated four communities in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and inflicted roughly 2,785 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"Over the week, Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlements of Sokol, Chigari, Yasnobrodovka and Voskhod in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a result of successful operations. In addition, they inflicted casualties on formations of six mechanized, two infantry and two territorial defense brigades. They repelled 38 counterattacks by enemy forces," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the week amounted to 2,785 personnel, two tanks, including a US-made M1A1 Abrams tank, nine armored combat vehicles, among them four US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 15 motor vehicles and 26 field artillery guns, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicts 980 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicted roughly 980 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"During the week, Battlegroup East units improved their tactical position and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of a mechanized brigade and two motorized infantry brigades of the Ukrainian army, three territorial defense brigades and a National Guard brigade. They repelled nine enemy counterattacks," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the week amounted to 980 personnel, a tank, nine armored combat vehicles, including two US-made M113 armored personnel carriers, 40 motor vehicles and 16 field artillery guns, among them 10 NATO-produced weapons, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr inflicts 685 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr inflicted roughly 685 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup Dnepr units inflicted casualties on formations of two Ukrainian army brigades, a marine infantry brigade and four territorial defense brigades. The enemy’s losses totaled as many as 685 personnel, an armored combat vehicle, 38 motor vehicles and 22 field artillery guns, among them eight US-made M777 howitzers," the ministry said.

In addition, Russian troops destroyed six electronic warfare stations and six field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it specified.

Russian troops destroy seven HIMARS launchers readied for strikes on Crimea over week

Russian troops destroyed seven HIMARS rocket launchers of the Ukrainian army readied for strikes on Crimea over the past week, the ministry reported.

"Over the week, operational/tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces destroyed seven US-made M142 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers readied for strikes on the territory of Crimea together with their foreign operators," the ministry said.

Russian forces wipe out nine S-300PS, Hawk, Patriot missile launchers over week

Russian forces destroyed nine S-300PS, Hawk and Patriot surface-to-air missile launchers together with radar stations over the past week, the ministry reported.

"Over the week, operational/tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces destroyed … four S-300PS anti-aircraft missile systems with a radar, three US-made Hawk surface-to-air missile launchers with a radar and two US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers with a radar," the ministry said.

Russian air defenses intercept four ATACMS missiles, 17 Hammer smart bombs over week

Russian air defense forces shot down four ATACMS and three Storm Shadow missiles and 17 Hammer smart bombs over the week, the ministry reported.

"Air defense capabilities shot down four US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles, three UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles, 17 French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, a US-made HARM anti-radar missile, 28 US-made HIMARS and Czech-made Vampire rockets and 308 unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry said.

Over 20 Ukrainian soldiers surrender to Russian troops in past week

More than 20 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to Russian troops over the week, the ministry reported.

"During the week, twenty-two Ukrainian servicemen surrendered at the line of engagement," the ministry said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 627 Ukrainian warplanes, 277 helicopters, 27,536 unmanned aerial vehicles, 546 surface-to-air missile systems, 16,560 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,376 multiple rocket launchers, 11,768 field artillery guns and mortars and 23,597 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation, the ministry reported.

‘Massacre’ - Israeli Terroris army operation in Gaza City kills dozens of civilians

Israeli Terrorist forces are accused of deliberately targeting displaced Palestinians in Gaza City where dozens of bodies have been recovered after attacks in the city’s Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood.

The discovery of the bodies came after Israeli troops reportedly pulled out of parts of the Tal al-Hawa and Sinaah neighborhoods following days of bombardment and fighting there. The Israeli Terrorist military launched an incursion into the districts earlier this week to fight what it said were Hamas militants who had regrouped.

Gaza civil defence teams say they found at least 60 bodies after Israeli terrorist forces withdrew partially from Tal al-Hawa and work continues to recover the dead and wounded from destroyed streets and buildings in the area.

Most of those killed in the neighbourhood were “families, women, and children”, Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said.

A senior staff member with UK humanitarian organisation Al-Khair Foundation was among four aid workers killed in an Israeli air raid near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to reports.

Director-General of the Gaza Government Media Office Ismail al-Thawabta has accused Israeli forces of carrying out a “planned massacre” in Gaza City.

The grisly scenes of the dead underscored the horrifying cycle nine months into the Gaza war.

After invading nearly every urban area across the tiny territory since October, Israeli Terrorist forces are now repeatedly re-invading parts as Hamas shifts and maintains capabilities. Palestinians are forced to flee over and over to escape the changing offensives – or to remain in place and face death. Cease-fire negotiations push ahead, nearing but never reaching a deal.

Videos circulating on social media showed civil defense workers wrapping bodies, including several women, in blankets on the rubble-strewn streets of Tal al-Hawa and Sinaah. A hand poked out of the smashed concrete where workers dug into a collapsed building. Other video showed burned-out buildings.

About 60 bodies have been found so far, including entire families who appeared to have been killed by artillery fire and airstrikes as they tried to flee, said Mahmoud Bassal, the director of civil defense in Gaza. Some bodies had been partially devoured by dogs, others burned inside homes and others remained unreachable in rubble, he said.

The director of nearby Al-Ahli Hospital, Fadel Naem, said at least 40 bodies found in the districts had been brought to the facility, though he didn’t have a precise number.

The Israeli Terrorist military said it could not comment on the discovery of the bodies.

Israel Terrorist’s assault on the district began after it issued an evacuation order for the area on Monday. In a statement Friday, the military said its troops targeted the abandoned headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, where it said Hamas had set up operations.

UNRWA left the compound in October, early in the war. The military said Friday that troops had battled Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters in the compound and discovered material for building drones and stashes of weapons. It issued photos of some of the discovered material, though the claims could not be independently confirmed.

On Friday, troops had withdrawn from most of the area, but snipers and drones continued to open fire, said Salem Elrayyes, a resident who fled months ago to the south but spoke to family members still in the neighborhood.

He said that during the days of the offensive, troops set fire to many homes — including that of one of his uncles — and carried out wide-scale arrests, taking people for interrogation inside the UNRWA compound. At least 11 of his relatives were detained, he said.

Two were released after being severely beaten, while the rest are still missing. His family was searching for other relatives still unaccounted for — “some may be detained, and some may have lost communication. Others may be killed,” Elrayyes said.

A day earlier, civil defense workers said they found dozens of bodies in Shijaiyah, another Gaza City district from which Israeli troops withdrew in recent days after a two-week offensive.

Most of the population of Gaza City and the surrounding areas in the north fled earlier in the war. But the U.N. estimates that some 300,000 people remain in the north. With each new assault, people often flee to other parts of the north, since so far Israel has not allowed those who flee south to return to the north.

An airstrike early Friday hit an aid warehouse in Muwasi, part of an Israeli Terrorist-declared “humanitarian safe zone” covering parts of south and central Gaza, a U.K.-based aid group Al-Khair Foundation said. Imam Qasim Rashid Ahmad, the group’s director in London, said one of its staffers, an engineer, was killed in the strike along with three staffers from other humanitarian groups using the warehouse.

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Video - Strikes on Kiev’s industry, hunt for anti-air systems and new Donbass gains: The past week in the Ukrainian conflict

A Russian Msta-S self-propelled howitzer fires near Avdeevka, Donetsk People's Republic, Russia on July 7, 2024.
©Sputnik/Stanislav Krasilnikov

The past week in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has seen active combat continuing at multiple locations along the front line, with Moscow reporting new gains in Donbass and liberation of new villages from Kiev’s forces.

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of Chigari, a small settlement located shortly to the northwest of the town of Gorlovka, Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic. The settlement, which has been reduced into rubble over the years of fighting in formerly-Ukrainian Donbass, has been used by Kiev’s forces as one of the staging points to launch indiscriminate artillery and missile strikes on Gorlovka.

Active fighting continued in the village of New York (also known as Novgorodskoye), located to the west of the town. Russian forces have reportedly broken through the Ukrainian defenses in the area, entering the village from the south and partially seizing control of it.

The Avdeevka axis remains one of the hottest points of the whole frontline, with the Russian forces continuing their westward advance following the liberation of the key town mid-February. Over the past week, the troops have expanded their zone of control around the town of Ocheretino, which used to serve as a major logistics hub for the Ukrainian forces.

On Saturday, the military said it had seized Sokol, a village to the south of Ocheretino, which has seen an intense oncoming battle over the past few weeks. The development was followed by the liberation of Voskhod, a village immediately to the west of Sokol. With the Russian zone of control expanding in the area, the military is expected to formally announce the capture of Yevgenovka, a village effectively forming a single agglomeration with Voskhod, shortly.

The Russian advance also continued to the south of Ocheretino beyond the now-defunct Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line, a series of villages stretching along a system of canals and ponds, where the Ukrainian forces tried to create new fortified positions after the fall of Avdeevka. On Tuesday, the defense military announced the liberation of Yasnobrodovka, a small village located on the banks of the Volchya River reservoir. The water body, as well as the Karlovskoye reservoir located shortly to the south of it, serve as major obstacles for the Russian advance.

Strikes on Ukraine’s defense industry

On Monday, the Russian military launched a major missile and kamikaze drone attack against Ukrainian military-industrial complex, targeting multiple locations across the country. Antonov aircraft and Artyom military plants in Kiev, Yuzhmash plant in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), a factory in Krivoy Rog, as well as several other facilities were among the targets.

Footage circulating online shows the moment of the strike on Yuzhmash, with multiple Geran-2 kamikaze drones and missiles hitting the location. Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses appear to intercept only a single suicide drone.

Another video taken in Kiev shows at least six Kh-101 cruise missiles striking the Artyom plant, with powerful explosions and a massive plume of dust and smoke seen at the location.

The Monday strikes have appeared to cause considerable collateral damage, with Kiev accusign the Russian military of deliberately targeting civilian facilities. Moscow has firmly denied such claims, attributing the collateral damage to Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses, notorious for repeatedly hitting residential buildings and other structures on the ground.

Arguably the most notable civilian facility damaged amid the barrage was the Ohmatdet child hospital in the Ukrainian capital. While Kiev claimed the hospital was hit by a Kh-101 cruise missile, the hit was filmed by multiple bystanders, with footage available suggesting it was actually damaged by an AIM-120 anti-aircraft missile, fired by a NASAMS system supplied by Ukraine’s Western backers.

“Numerous published photos and video footage from Kiev clearly confirm the fact of destruction due to the fall of a Ukrainian air defense missile launched from an anti-aircraft missile system within the city,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in response to the accusations, dismissing them as “absolutely untrue.”

Rear strikes

Over the past week, the Russian military continued to actively conduct strikes on the Ukrainian military’s rear, targeting personnel and hardware, ammo dumps, staging areas and storage.

A large convoy of over 20 military vehicles and a field ammo dump were hit by an Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile near the village of Stetskovka in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Region. Thermal drone footage shared by the Russian Defense Ministry shows the location pelted by bomblets deployed from the cluster warhead of the missile.

The strike sparked a major fire at the location, with powerful secondary detonations of ammunition observed by the surveillance drone. According to Moscow’s estimates, up to 65 Ukrainian servicemen were killed or injured in the strike.

Another video circulating online shows two Russian aerial bombs, fitted with the UUniversal Correction and Guidance Module (UMPK) winged upgrade kits, hitting a hangar near Liman, a tiny village located shortly to the south of Volchansk, a Ukrainian town close to the Russia-Ukraine border, which has seen active combat over the past few weeks.

The hangar was reportedly used to house several multiple rocket launcher systems, as well as to stockpile their ammunition. The systems have been used to provide fire support to the Ukrainian forces operating in the area, as well as to launch indiscriminate crossborder attacks on Russian soil.

Hunt for anti-air systems

The Russian military has continued its hunt for the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses, reporting strikes on several pieces of Western-supplied, as well as Soviet-era hardware.

On Sunday, the Russian defense Ministry shared footage of ballistic missile strikes on an anti-aircraft unit’s position in Odessa Region, located immediately by the shoreline.

During the strike, the Russian military destroyed a Swedish-made Giraffe radar, as well as at least two US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers, the ministry said.

A Ukrainian Soviet-era S-300 anti-aircraft system was found and destroyed by the Russian forces last Friday, footage circulating online shows. The anti-aircraft position was found by surveillance drones deep into Ukrainian territory by the town of Mirgorod, Polatava Region, some 130km away from the frontline.

The anti-aircraft unit, which included at least two launchers and a radar array, was deployed at a disused agricultural facility at an isolated location, footage shows. The site was apparently targeted by an Iskander-M ballistic missile system in a double tap-style attack, with a highly explosive warhead followed by a cluster munition, the video suggests. The strikes sparked multiple fires at the site, as well as triggered detonation of anti-aircraft missiles.