KUALA LUMPUR – Ukraine’s armed forces have destroyed the BUK missile complex believed to be involved in the downing of ill-fated Malaysian flight MH17, said its Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
In a virtual press conference aired on the ministry’s Facebook page, Kuleba said the anti-air missile system was among the damage inflicted on Russian forces which have mounted an all-out invasion of Ukraine “from all directions”.
He said since Russia’s offensive began on February 24, the Ukrainian forces have downed 46 Russian war aircraft, 26 helicopters, 146 tanks, 706 armoured vehicles, and 49 cannons.
“We also destroyed one missile BUK complex, the same one used to shoot down MH17 when Russia killed hundreds of innocent lives in 2014,” he said.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane from Amsterdam was headed to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014 when it was shot down while flying over an area in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.
According to AFP in June last year, an international probe concluded that a BUK missile that had originally come from the Russian army’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade based in the city of Kursk was responsible.
However, Russia has consistently denied any responsibility for the incident.
Kuleba said Ukraine had also destroyed 30 vehicles, two drones, and two boats belonging to the Russian military.
On casualties, he said Ukraine had killed and wounded 4,300 Russian soldiers and held hundreds of them in captivity.
“The data is preliminary because the battles are ongoing and the exact number is fluctuating,” he said, adding that Russia has yet to fully overrun any major city in Ukraine despite the onslaught.
He also said Russian forces had taken over the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone, preventing the rotation of Ukrainian clean-up workers stationed there.
“But even with local advances and catastrophic losses, (Russian President Vladmir) Putin has not been able to achieve a single strategic goal. No major city is captured by the Russians, despite a number of attempts of bombing, shelling and ground offensive on the capital city of Kiev,” he said.
“The enemy has not been able to take any control.” – The Vibes, February 27, 2022
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