Russian forces have bragged about destroying NATO weapons in a series of strikes, according to reports.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said long-range air-launched missiles fired by the Russian Armed Forces were able to destroy a warehouse which held Harpoon missiles, while a launcher and a transport-loading vehicle of a HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) were destroyed in a separate strike, according to a report by Russian News Agency TASS.
This comes days after the U.S. Department of Defense said the use of HIMARS, provided by the U.S., was making things more difficult for Russian forces on the frontlines in Ukraine. However, It is not exactly clear when the Russian attack took place.
The M142 HIMARS system allows for the launching of multiple, precision-guided rockets. Already, the U.S. had provided eight of the systems to Ukraine and last week promised to send an additional four, for a total of 12.
The claim of Russia's success was made by the official representative of Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov.
"High-precision long-range air-launched missiles in one of the buildings of an industrial enterprise in the city of Odessa destroyed a storage warehouse for Harpoon anti-ship missiles transferred to Ukraine by NATO counties," he said, according to TASS.
Konashenkov added that near the settlement of Krasnoarmeysk in the Donetsk People's Republic, ground-based high-precision weapons destroyed a launcher and a transport-loading vehicle of a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system.
He continued: "As a result of the strike on the deployment point of the 97th battalion of the 60th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Novodanilovka, Zaporozhye region, up to 65 nationalists and over 10 units of special vehicles were destroyed."
Editor-in-chief of the Military-Technical Cooperation Tass magazine, Dmitry Litovkin, said the Harpoon missile is one of the most successful developments in its class, according to the TASS report.
The missiles are used in almost 30 states, including NATO countries, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Israel, Chile and India.
The American company Lockheed Martin has developed the M142 HIMARS and it is considered highly mobile.
Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's Ministry of Defense for comment.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, it has been alleged that two universities in Mykolaiv were attacked Friday morning by a Russian missile strike.
Footage released by Ukrainian officials shows large plumes of black smoke rising into the sky above a university after it was reportedly hit, along with another university in the city, by at least 10 Russian missiles.
The images were obtained from the Mykolaiv regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, 41, who said: "This morning, the terrorist country Russia again shelled Mykolaiv. By firing at least 10 missiles into the city.
"The city's two largest universities were affected. Now they are attacking our education.
"I ask the universities of all democratic countries to declare Russia what it really is - a terrorist country."
The footage was also relayed by the Ukrainian government organization the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, along with a statement saying: "At around 8 a.m., more than 10 powerful explosions were heard in the city.
"This was announced by the mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkovych."
Kim, the governor of the Mykolaiv region, later said that "Russians attacked two of the largest universities in the city."
"Currently, two people are known to have been injured as a result of the attack," he added.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the State Awarding Ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace, June,12,2022, in Moscow, Rusia. Russian forces have bragged about a successful attack on Ukraine held storage warehouse, according to reports. Getty
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