Russian Defence Ministry reports destruction of rocket and artillery ammo depot in Ukraine

The Russian forces have destroyed a warehouse with rocket and artillery weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in Kharkiv, an official representative for the Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov told reporters on December 16.

In addition, Russian missile troops and artillery attacked the command posts of three territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the town of Beryslav, the Kherson region, and near Huliaipole in the Zaporozhye region. The Russian Armed Forces also hit 64 artillery units and 93 enemy concentration areas.

The Russian troops also managed to destroy the radar station of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system in the Donetsk People's Republic, Konashenkov added.

According to the Ministry of Defence, since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, as many as 7,625 military vehicles, 3,689 field artillery pieces and mortars, 931 multiple rocket launchers, 7,134 armoured vehicles, 396 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,673 drones, 344 aircraft and 184 helicopters have been destroyed.

HIMARS rockets intercepted in LPR

Near the town of Pervomaisk in the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), the Russian troops intercepted two HIMARS rockets, the Russian Ministry of Defence said.

According to the agency, air defence systems also shot down four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in one day in the areas of the settlements of Novaya Tarasovka, the Kharkiv region, Novoukrainskoe, Grafskoe and Sladkoe of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

Earlier it was reported that at least eight people were killed and another 23 were injured as a HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system struck the village of Lantratovka in the Luhansk People's Republic.

Russian forces push back Ukrainian troops in Donetsk direction

Over the past day, the Russian military pushed back the troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Donetsk direction and caused them to scatter, the Ministry of Defence said.

The Ukrainian servicemen were pushed back when they tried to go on an attack in the areas of the settlements of Artemovsk and Shumy of the Donetsk People's Republic, as well as the settlement of Belgorovka of the Luhansk People's Republic. Ukraine lost 40 people killed and wounded.

Two reconnaissance groups destroyed in DPR

Russian troops managed to destroy two sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence said on December 16.

The ministry clarified that the groups of Ukrainian saboteurs were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Novomayorskoye and Shevchenko in the Donetsk People's Republic.