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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
World
Anita McSorley & Dave Burke

Cheering Ukrainian troops shoot down Russian drone with missile made in the north of Ireland

Ukrainian troops have shot down a Russian drone with a missile made in the north of Ireland.

Cheering soldiers are shown celebrating after the laser-guided Starstreak missile took down the device.

The Starstreak missile is manufactured in Belfast, Co Antrim by Thales Air Defence Limited, which employs almost 500 people in the north. It also operates a remote facility in rural Co Down where missiles are tested and stored.

READ MORE: Vladimir Putin's doomsday 'Dead Hand' device causes alarm as Russian leader could fire 30 nukes at once to obliterate West

The ultra-modern, high-velocity Starstreak missile is laser-guided and travels at more than three times the speed of sound.

It is included in a weapons package worth almost €120 million that the British Government has announced it will be providing to Ukraine, The Mirror UK reports.

On Monday, footage was posted by soldier Yuriy Kochevenko thanking Britain for supplying the missile system that wiped out Russia's drone.

Troops are shown watching the device fall from the sky, with one of them shouting: "There's contact, we destroyed that s***."

Ukrainian soldiers with the Starstreak air defence systems made in the north of Ireland (AFP via Getty Images)

It is believed to have happened on Saturday, with Ukrainian military bosses saying the drone was downed by the 95th Air Assault Brigade.

Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that military operations will not be paused during peace talks.

Russian officials say discussions with Ukraine are not progressing as rapidly as they would like, and have accused the West of trying to derail negotiations by raising war crimes allegations against Russian troops.

Putin's forces have been accused of a litany of atrocities including murder, torture, rape and targeting civilians.

Lavrov said: "After we became convinced that the Ukrainians were not planning to reciprocate, a decision was made that during the next rounds of talks, there would be no pause (in military action) so long as a final agreement is not reached."

It comes as one of the Russian President's closest henchmen said that Vladimir Putin should threaten to use nuclear weapons if the West puts mercenary fighters into Ukraine.

Warlord Ramzan Kadyrov - leader of Chechnya and a lieutenant-general in the Russian national guard - also called on Putin not to abandon his aim of seizing Kyiv despite the current pullback.

Outspoken hardliner Kadyrov, 45, claims to be personally involved in the war especially with Chechen forces around decimated Mariupol.

In a new video, the Chechen head, so powerful he criticises some of Putin’s most trusted inner circle, said: “What would I do?

“I would immediately clear Luhansk and Donetsk, and begin to work further.

“I would declare: If any mercenary comes to Ukraine we would go up to a strike with nuclear tactical [weapons] at certain points…

“So they do not mock us. NATO, the West, are at war with us. This isn't a joke.”

READ MORE: Disturbing footage of pro-Russian flags and symbols on cars travelling on Irish road causes uproar

READ MORE: High velocity missile made in Ulster 'rips in half Russian helicopter in first use'

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