A company-sized tactical unit was struck with an Iskander-M missile, according to the defense ministry in Moscow
A successful missile strike hit the position of a company-sized Ukrainian tactical unit not far from the Russian border, the defense ministry in Moscow announced on Friday. The Russian military also published a video showing the moment of the strike.
Black-and-white footage apparently taken from a drone hovering over the area at first showed some vehicles moving along a road towards a small wooded area amid fields. The location is then struck by a Russian missile, with a powerful blast rocking the area. Around a dozen burning objects can then be seen at the target location after the strike.
According to the defense ministry, 12 armored vehicles as well as five pickup trucks were destroyed and some 80 Ukrainian soldiers eliminated in the attack. Kiev has not commented on the development.
The attack was carried out using an Iskander-M missile system, the statement said. According to Russian media, the strike targeted an area near the village of Frunzenka in the Ukrainian northeastern Sumy Region. Frunzenka is located less than about ten miles (15 km) away from the Russian border.
Sumy Region borders Russia’s Kursk Region, where Kiev’s troops launched an incursion in early August. They made some initial progress but were eventually stopped, according to the Russian defense ministry. Russian troops have since been successfully preventing any further advance by the Ukrainian military and also managed to win back some territory, along with a dozen settlements close to the border. Fighting in the region continues.
Ukrainian officials have stated that the main goals of the incursion were to sway public opinion in Russia and to gain a better bargaining position ahead of possible peace talks with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow has never ruled out negotiations, but only after all Ukrainian forces have left Russian territory.
Earlier on Friday, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, said that Ukraine’s Kursk operation has failed to distract Russia from its successful offensive in Donbass.
Ukraine has lost almost 20,000 soldiers in the incursion, according to the Russian defense ministry’s estimates.
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