Pro-Russian LPR Says Russian Multiple Launch Rocket Systems Have Fired On Ukrainian Military Positions

The pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Republic has said that Russian artillery has fired on Ukrainian military positions.

These images purport to show a Russian Grad-21 multiple launch rocket system being loaded with ordnance before it and other vehicles like it can be seen manoeuvring into position on the battlefield and opening fire.

The war machines can be seen firing salvos of missiles into the sky, presumably targeting Ukrainian military positions.

The images were obtained from the pro-Russian, so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) on Monday, 21st November, along with a statement saying: “Rocket artillery units of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces destroyed Ukrainian nationalists.”

We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.

The BM-21 GRAD self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher shoots rocket in Ukraine in undated photo. Pro-Russian artillery units shot at Ukrainian positions with help of GRAD. (@millnr/Newsflash)

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 272nd day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 22nd November, Russia had lost about 85,000 personnel, 2,895 tanks, 5,827 armoured combat vehicles, 1,882 artillery units, 395 multiple launch rocket systems, 209 air defence systems, 278 warplanes, 261 helicopters, 1,537 drones, 480 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,393 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 161 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

Ukraine is evacuating civilians from recaptured areas of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions amid concern that damage to the local infrastructure is too severe for people to stay during winter.

The BM-21 GRAD self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher shoots rocket in Ukraine in undated photo. Pro-Russian artillery units shot at Ukrainian positions with help of GRAD. (@millnr/Newsflash)

Local residents have reportedly been advised to relocate to safer and less affected areas in central and western Ukraine.

Both the Kremlin and Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, have accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest – with the Ukrainian president appealing to NATO members to ensure that Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are protected from “Russian sabotage”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Ukraine’s health system is currently “facing its darkest days in the war”.

Dr Hans Henri P Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said that half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is currently damaged or destroyed, with 10 million people currently without electricity.

Temperatures are expected to plummet to as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country this winter.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has said that they have identified four locations where Russian soldiers tortured prisoners in the city of Kherson.

Pro-Russian soldier loads rockets into the BM-21 GRAD self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher in Ukraine in undated photo. Pro-Russian artillery units shot at Ukrainian positions with help of GRAD. (@millnr/Newsflash)

It said that the Russians had set up “pseudo-law enforcement agencies” in detention centres and a police station before the Russian forces abandon the city.

Russian soldiers have also been accused of burning bodies at a landfill site on the edge of the city.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that his country has no plans to call up more Russian soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

British intelligence has said that Russian forces are currently constructing defensive positions that are staffed by poorly trained reservists near the Svatove area of the Luhansk region of north-eastern Ukraine.

The British Ministry of Defence said that with Russia’s south-western frontline now more defendable on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, the Svatove area is thought to be a more vulnerable flank of the Russian frontline.

Forty-five countries and organisations are set to meet in the French capital Paris on Monday to discuss providing millions in aid to Moldova, as fears increase that Ukraine’s western neighbour could be further destabilised by the ongoing war.

Picture shows the BM-21 GRAD self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher in Ukraine in undated photo. Pro-Russian artillery units shot at Ukrainian positions with help of GRAD. (@millnr/Newsflash)

Moldova is reportedly buckling under the effects of rising food and energy prices, combined with the arrival of about 2.5 million refugees in the country as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.