Russia says it destroyed large amounts of ammunition in Ukraine

A depot containing HIMARS rockets and ammunition for M 777 weapon systems was successfully targeted, Russia s Defense Ministry claimed.

Russian forces have destroyed a large amount of munitions for American-made weapon systems after striking a depot in central Ukraine, Russia s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

In its daily update, the ministry claimed that the strike was carried out near the village of Uman in Ukraine's Cherkasy Region via long-range high-precision sea-based weapons and destroyed over 300 rockets for HIMARS multiple rocket launch systems. A large amount of ammunition was taken from American M 777 howitzers, it said.

The ministry said on August 7 that it had hit over 45,000 tons of NATO-supplied ammunition in southern Ukraine, along with five other ammo depots.

In late July Russia reported removing over 100 US-made HIMARS rockets in Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Region, along with 120 Ukrainian military personnel guarding the facility, as well as foreign mercenaries and technical specialists.

The ministry says it is actively monitoring foreign fighters and specialists who have arrived in Ukraine, noting that their number has been reduced to 2,190 from 2,741 in early July.

It also reported that between July 8 and August 5 175 mercenaries joined Kiev's forces but said that it is not enough to cover the losses in their ranks.

The ministry said that another 398 had left Ukraine voluntarily during the specified period, and we can confirm the elimination of 335 foreign fighters during the specified period.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev's failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by France and Germany, were first signed in 2014. The former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has admitted that Kiev's main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and create powerful armed forces. In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself as a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was unprovoked.