MOSCOW: Russia said Tuesday it had downed in Ukraine a long-distance rocket-propelled bomb recently supplied to Kyiv by the United States — a weapon seen as vital for a planned Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“Air defence (forces) downed… a GLSDB guided rocket,” the defence ministry said in a statement, referring to ground-launched small-diameter bombs produced by Boeing and the Saab Group.
These devices range up to 150 kilometers (93 miles), threatening Russian positions and supplying depots far behind the front lines.
The Pentagon in February announced it was providing Ukraine with GLSDBs as part of a $2.2 billion arms package.
“This gives them a longer-range capability… that will enable them to conduct operations in defense of their country and to take back their sovereign territory,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said at the time.
Ukraine asking US for munitions
Ukraine had been asking the United States for munitions that could fly farther than the HIMARS rockets, which have an 80-kilometer range.
The GLSDB potentially allows Ukraine forces to strike anywhere in the Russian-held parts of Ukraine.
That could threaten key Russian supply lines, arms depots, and air bases.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, at the time, tweeted his thanks to President Joe Biden for the new aid.
“The more long-range our weapons are and the more mobile our troops are the sooner Russia’s brutal aggression will end,” he said.
