Скачать или смотреть Ukraine Says It Destroyed Russian Ship With Ballistic Missile

BERDYANSK, UKRAINE — Ukraine says it used a relatively inaccurate ballistic missile with a big warhead to hit a Russian ship while it was unloading ammunition in a Ukrainian port that had been taken over by Russian forces.

The Ukrainian military also claimed that it knew when and where to strike because it is getting information from double agents within the Russian military.

The Ukrainian military says it used a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile to destroy a Russian military cargo ship on Thursday March 24. Footage shared on social media

showed the Russian ship burning and exploding at its berth in the Ukranian port of Berdyansk. Russia’s RT news reported a few days earlier that such a rocket had been shot

down near the ship. The Tochka-U missile system was an upgrade that entered service in Russia in 1989. The Tochka-U increased its predecessor’s range to 120 kilometers

and improved its accuracy to a 50% probability of hitting within 90 meters of its target, by using a combination of a GPS system and a terminal guidance radar. Each missile has

its own dedicated launch vehicle that can travel at up to 60 kilometers per hour on roads, while being able to traverse rough terrain and cruise on water. Deploying a Tochka

for launch takes 15 minutes, while reloading takes 20 minutes. The system usually travels with a Zil-131 truck that tows additional missiles and a missile-loading system.

The military analysis website Shephard News says there is no independent confirmation that it was a Ukrainian missile that was responsible for the explosions.

It says that, based on visual evidence of an initial fire and secondary explosions, an alternative theory could be that the explosions started after a munitions-handling failure by Russian troops.

Unlike the majority of ballistic missiles, which never see use, the Tochka-U has caused a lot of destruction around the world.

The first operational use of the Tochka-U was during the 1994 Yemen civil war, where the northern forces fired them at the Saudi-backed southern side — often hitting military bases and causing many casualties.

SOURCES: BBC, Deutsche Welle
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-claims-...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe...