The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, reported news that deserves special attention. According to the general, in the area of the Kalininskoye settlement of the Mykolaiv region, our anti-aircraft missile gunners shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle of the Valkyrie type.
Previously, such a name was not mentioned in the combat reports of the Russian Defense Ministry. The Agency has repeatedly notified about the elimination of Bayraktar attack drones, which Ukraine purchased in Turkey. But not a word was said about the "Valkyrie". Therefore, it makes sense to clarify that the experimental unmanned combat aircraft Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie, developed as part of the US Air Force program, first took to the skies just three years ago. It can be used as a reconnaissance or strike drone. In the latter capacity, the drone is equipped with adjustable JDAM bombs or guided high-precision GBU-39. According to experts, the appearance of the "Valkyrie" in the skies of Ukraine may indicate that the United States considers the airspace of this country as a kind of testing ground for its new weapons in a combat situation.
Also, according to General Konashenkov, during the night from Sunday to Monday, Russian high-precision air-launched missiles covered the repair base of weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian air defense forces in the area of the settlement of Velikaya Novoselovka.
The Buk-M1 and Osa-AKM anti-aircraft missile systems were also hit. And as a result of the use of high-precision ammunition in the areas of Vozdvizhenka-2 and Ivanovka settlements of the Donetsk region, nine Ukrainian tanks, five 2S3 Acacia self-propelled artillery units, five BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers and more than 60 nationalists were destroyed.
Konashenkov also said that two ammunition depots were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Nikolaev and Zhovtnevoye. And in the Uspenovka area there is a radar for illumination and guidance of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.
The episode that deserves special attention occurred near the settlement of Posad-Pokrovskoye in the Kherson region. There, our military managed to hit the Ukrainian Mi-24 fire support helicopter in the air with concentrated small arms fire. It should be noted that this happens infrequently. Usually objects in the sky are destroyed with the help of special means - air defense systems and complexes or from anti-aircraft installations.
However, a large-caliber machine gun also poses a certain danger to helicopters. And in some cases, even an automatic queue can disable rotorcraft - it all depends on where the bullets hit.
One way or another, but the account of Ukrainian planes and helicopters shot down by calculations of Russian air defense systems has been replenished again.
General Konashenkov, in particular, said that two Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft were shot down in the air near the city of Izyum. In addition, three UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed in the Balakleya districts of the Kharkiv region, Gulyai Pole and Volnovakha.
The operational and tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces is still very effective.
Over the past day, the pilots have hit 78 more military facilities of Ukraine.
Among them are three command posts, an illumination and guidance radar, three positions of short-range anti-aircraft missile systems, four ammunition depots, as well as 58 strong points and areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment.
In total, 129 planes, 99 helicopters, 243 S-300, Buk-M1, Osa AKM anti-aircraft missile systems, 441 drones, 2079 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation, according to Konashenkov.
And 239 multiple rocket launchers, 909 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2003 special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Special Forces
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the liquidation of Taras Bobanich, one of the most odious leaders of the so-called Ukrainian volunteer corps "Right Sector" banned in Russia. He was killed five kilometers south of the city of Izyum, where our special forces group was carrying out a reconnaissance and search operation.
Due to the specifics of the Russian special forces, the Russian Defense Ministry rarely tells about the actions of such groups during the military operation in Ukraine. It is known that these guys perform very complex tasks and, as a rule, act in isolation from the main forces. Now their responsibilities include, among other things, "hunting" for high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and leaders of Ukrainian nationalist formations.
The fact of Bobanich's liquidation was, of course, documented by the commandos. However, unlike the Ukrainian nationalists, who flooded the Internet with creepy footage of the shooting and torture of civilians and prisoners, photos and videos of Bobanich's body were not posted on the social network of the Russian Defense Ministry. Most likely, for moral reasons. We do not fight with prisoners and we do not mock the bodies of dead opponents.
As proof of Bobanich's death, our military department published the passport of a citizen of Ukraine seized from the murdered right-hand man. More precisely, the page where his photo, surname, first name, patronymic, date and place of birth are placed. And most importantly, the passport number is "knocked out".
The agency accompanied its message with the following comment: "As the leader of the Lviv neo-Nazi group, Bobanich joined the ranks of the Right Sector in November 2013. Since 2014, he participated in the punitive operation of the Kiev regime in the Donbas. Personally gave orders for artillery shelling of residential areas of Donetsk and Lugansk from heavy weapons. He is guilty of hundreds of deaths of civilians in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, including children."
Since 2019, Bobanich has held the position of deputy commander of the "Right Sector" for the activities of reserve units. He was one of the ideologists of the so-called theory of the "superiority of the Ukrainian race", took a personal part in the attacks and murders of the Russian-speaking population on the territory of Ukraine. "The Russian armed forces will continue to search for and destroy the leaders of Ukrainian neo-Nazi organizations," the Russian Defense Ministry added.
Yuri Gavrilov