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The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed five of Ukraine’s newly-acquired M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and MARS II systems in the Zaporozhye region, A spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, announced on December 8.
“As a result of strikes by high-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces, five American-made MLRS and German-made MARS II rocket launchers were destroyed in the areas of the communities of Shevchenkovskoye and Grigorovskoye in the Zaporozhye Region,” the spokesman said.
The MARS II is the German copy of the MLRS system. The United Kingdom, Norway, France and Germany supplied at least 16 MLRS and MARS II launchers to Kiev forces after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. The first system was delivered in mid-July.
Each MLRS or MARS II launcher can be armed with up to 12 M30/M31 series GMLRS GPS-guided rockets, which have a range of more than 70 kilometers, in two separate pods.
The Russian military has been working to locate and destroy Ukraine’s MLRS and MARS II rocket launchers. Just a day earlier, the Russian MoD said that two MLRS launchers were destroyed in a precision strike that targeted the ArcelorMittal plant in the Krivoi Rog region.
The Russian MoD says that some 920 multiple rocket launchers of Kiev forces have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Advanced rocket and artillery systems recently provided by the NATO gave a real boost to Kiev forces. Nevertheless, the Russian military continues to dominates the battlefield with its sheer fire power.
