On Wednesday, it became known that our military again used high-precision long-range missiles during a special operation in Ukraine. The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that with the help of marine "Calibers", hangars with a large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition were destroyed on the territory of the Zaporozhye Aluminum Plant. They were supplied to the Ukrainian army by the United States and European countries. As has happened more than once, the Western arsenal did not reach the front line.
A little later, the Russian military department distributed footage of the multiple launch of cruise missiles from the Black Sea. Judging by the video, the Russian frigate fired four "Calibers" during daylight hours, most likely at dawn. However, it is not for nothing that this weapon is called high-precision - the rocket hits targets equally effectively day and night. During the special military operation in Ukraine, our sailors have confirmed this more than once.
Actually, the Kalibr is not a single missile, but a whole family of high-precision cruise munitions designed for different purposes and having different power, principle of operation and method of placement. For example, the 3M14 ship missile (it was used to destroy terrorists in Syria in October 2015 by the crews of the ships of the Caspian Flotilla Dagestan, Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich and Veliky Ustyug) has a range of up to 2.6 thousand kilometers.
And the 3M54 ammunition used on diesel-electric submarines of the 636.3 Varshavyanka project shoots, according to some estimates, at 400 kilometers. The Black Sea submariners also tested it on terrorists operating in Syria and made sure that the NATO members did not call this rocket Sizzler for nothing - "incinerator".
Experts know another ability of the marine "Caliber" - it easily overcomes the powerful enemy air defense system. This is achieved due to the flight of the missile at an extremely low altitude and the autonomy of its guidance to the target in the "silence" mode on the main section of the trajectory.
Navigation in the "Caliber" - and this is up to a dozen and a half reference points - is laid such that the missile can approach an enemy object from almost any direction.
As for the accuracy of the hit, the expression "hits the bull's-eye" is appropriate here. For example, it is known that the export version of the "Caliber" shoots at 300 kilometers and destroys a target with a diameter of 1-2 meters. The missiles used in our Navy have even higher accuracy characteristics.
It is clear that the Russian command does not always and not everywhere use this modern naval strike complex. There are many objects, the destruction of which is better to entrust, for example, tactical and army aviation. That's basically how it's done.
According to Konashenkov, on Tuesday night our pilots hit 59 such targets. Air strikes, in particular, were inflicted on 50 areas of concentration of manpower and Ukrainian military equipment. And in the areas of the settlements of Chervoennoye, Dolgenkoye, Pashkovo and Veseloye, after the action of Russian aviation, four warehouses with weapons and ammunition took off into the air. Near Slavyansk, the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system of the AFU turned out to be in the affected area. As a result of all these attacks, over 120 nationalists and 35 armored vehicles and vehicles were destroyed.
Rocket troops and artillery are still performing a very large number of firing tasks in Ukraine. During the night there were almost six hundred such tasks. As a result, 432 areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment, 67 artillery positions, two batteries of multiple rocket launchers, as well as seven ammunition depots were hit.
What the fortified area of the AFU and nationalists destroyed during the fighting looks like, you can learn from the video that the Russian Defense Ministry published in the Telegram channel. These shots show that the Ukrainian military equipped their positions on the outskirts of the coastal settlement. The fortified area had an extensive network of trenches, well-protected firing points were located in different places.
Nevertheless, all this did not help the defenders to restrain the onslaught of our troops. "Nationalists who did not voluntarily lay down their arms were eventually destroyed by artillery fire," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
They added that small arms, ammunition and more than 30 dead servicemen were found in positions previously occupied by Ukrainian units.
Konashenkov also spoke about the actions of Russian air defense systems. In the vicinity of Alexandrovka, Balakleya, Bryanka, Zaporizhia, Izium, Kapitolovka, Peremoga, Petrovka, Popasny, Proletarsky and Trudolyubovka, they shot down 18 Ukrainian drones. More precisely, this list should also include Kolesnikovka and Krasny Estuary, where calculations of anti-aircraft missile systems managed to destroy two "Bayraktara TB-2". And also Ilyichevka, over which the Ukrainian tactical missile "Tochka-U" was shot down.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian army has lost 141 aircraft, 110 helicopters, 607 unmanned aerial vehicles, 273 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,596 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 296 multiple rocket launchers, 1,134 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 2,413 special military vehicles.
Yuri Gavrilov
