Russian soldiers prepare an S-300V anti-ballistic missile system and fire a rocket at a Ukrainian air target, as seen in a video released by Russian military authorities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said air-defense crews are using the S-300V missile system to help with their ‘special military operation’ to “demilitarize and denazify” the Donbas region.
The Russian military said the anti-ballistic missile system is very effective against both helicopters and aircraft as well as defending against cruise, air-launched and ground-launched missiles, claiming that a battery can control the airspace for miles around.
The S-300V is also used to down combat drones, including the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In other developments, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces have attacked over 40 towns in the eastern Donbas region.
They added that five civilians died, 12 were wounded and 47 civilian sites were destroyed or damaged in the latest attacks.
The death toll from shelling in Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv on May 26 has now reached nine people, including a baby.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on May 26 that lives are lost in Ukraine every moment the West delays putting more pressure on Russia. He said the Donbas could be left uninhabited by the invasion and accused Russia of carrying out a genocide in the region.
His foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine would not be able to counter the Russian offensive without more heavy weapons.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that makes it easier for Ukrainians in occupied areas to become citizens of Russia.
Russia has also done away with the upper age limit for contractual service in its military.
Ukraine has called Russia’s offer to lift the blockade of its Black Sea ports in return for the lifting of some sanctions “blackmail”.
The blockade has led to shortages in wheat and cooking oil across the world.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. May 27 marks the 93rd day of the campaign.
From February 24 to May 26, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 29,600 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,315 tanks, 3,235 armoured fighting vehicles, 617 artillery systems, 201 multiple launch rocket systems, 93 anti-aircraft systems, 206 warplanes, 170 helicopters, 2,225 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 502 unmanned aerial vehicles, 47 units of special equipment, and 114 cruise missiles.
Meanwhile, the Russian MoD claims to have destroyed 179 Ukrainian planes and 127 helicopters, 1,019 unmanned aerial vehicles, 323 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,266 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 433 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,682 field artillery and mortars, as well as 3,190 units of special military vehicles.
