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US Himars Strike Destroys Air Defences Inside Russia as Putin Uses Mad Max War Bikes
US Himars Strike Destroys Air Defences Inside Russia as Kremlin Warns of Fatal Consequences
Russia Using 'Mad Max' War Bikes in Attempt to Dodge Ukraines' Killer Drones
Images of the Russian "Mad Max" vehicles have emerged with sidecars, bizarre metal cages, and camouflage netting. However, these vehicles are vulnerable to Ukrainian artillery, missiles and drones
BBC 5 JUN 2024
Ukrainian troops have used US-supplied Himars missiles to destroy an advanced air defence system inside Russia, as the Kremlin warned Washington it could suffer “fatal consequences” for backing the cross-border attacks. 
Several missiles are understood to have hit an air defence installation in the Russian town of Belgorod that was equipped with S-300/400 surface-to-air missiles.
Photos of the aftermath of the attack, which is believed to have happened on Sunday, show vehicles on fire and billowing out smoke.
On Monday, Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow’s deputy foreign minister, said that the US would face “fatal consequences” if it allowed Ukraine to use American weapons for attacks inside Russia.
The US has so far allowed Kyiv to hit targets within Russia only if they pose an immediate threat to Ukrainian forces.
It’s not clear if the strike on Belgorod breaches the limits the US has imposed on the weapons, but Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has requested permission to use US munitions for long range strikes.
On Monday, those wishes were echoed by Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister, who told his Estonian counterpart Ukraine was pressing its allies “on expanding the scope of its application”.
“It is not 100 per cent, you know, clearance. It comes with some rules that need to be followed,” he said at a press conference.
‘Don’t underestimate the rebuff’
Ukraine has argued that in not allowing it to fire long range weapons into Russia, its allies are hamstringing its defence.
Mr Zelensky said: “So they have these weapons there and they do not remove them because they know that Ukraine cannot target them with Western weaponry even if they fire against us.”
Ukraine’s supporters fear striking inside Russia will drag them closer to direct conflict with Moscow.
Mr Ryabkov warned the US to take a more serious approach to conflict, risking miscalculation if they don’t.
“I urge these figures [in the US] ... to spend some of their time, which they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the lightness of their approach, on studying what was said in detail by Putin,” Mr Ryabkov said.
“I would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,” he added.
Vladimir Putin said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, because such attacks would require its satellite, intelligence and military help.
Attacks over the border have stepped up dramatically in recent weeks after Russian forces launched a renewed ground offensive into Ukraine’s north-east.
Ukraine has responded with attacks of its own. Among the most recent was one with drones that destroyed a convoy of 15 Russian trucks, according to footage recorded by the brigades involved in the attack.
On Monday, Mr Kuleba said Russia was trying to dissuade countries from participating in a Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland later this month.
He said Russia was aiming to discredit the summit publicly, convince countries not to participate and urge those intent on going to send low-level representatives.
Russia Using 'Mad Max' War Bikes..
Russia has begun equipping more assault groups with inexpensive civilian vehicles
Russia is using "Mad Max" bikes to dodge Ukrainian drones after losing more than 15,000 armoured vehicles - as their war supplies continue to dwindle.
The armed vehicles have been mocked online
According to the Ukrainian Centre for Defence, the Russians are “employing light vehicles such as motorcycles and ATVs to quickly traverse the distance from their attack launch positions to the front lines of the Ukrainian defence forces.” However, these vehicles are extremely vulnerable to Ukrainian artillery, missiles, and drones.
Images have emerged of the bikes with sidecars and bizarre metal cages covering them - along with some camouflage netting. They've been compared to the vehicles used in the post-apocalyptic Mad Max film franchise but the 70-horsepower ATV or a 50-horsepower motorbike is unable to withstand much armour without losing its speed.
They were first deployed in Spring but they were “beaten in the teeth,” according to the Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade. “The armoured motorcycle was one of the many concepts that died with the interwar era,” Tanks Encyclopedia told Forbes.
“Their increased weight and relatively high cost, coupled with limited combat potential, meant that their place in armoured fighting vehicle history resulted in little more than a footnote.”
It comes as Ukraine imposed emergency power shutdowns in most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed it made gains in the eastern Donetsk province.
The shutdowns were in place in all but three regions of Ukraine following Saturday’s drone and missile attack on energy targets that injured at least 19 people.
Comparisons have been made with "Mad Max"
Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo said the shutdowns affected both industrial and household consumers. Sustained Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks have forced the government to institute nationwide rolling blackouts.
Without adequate air defences to counter assaults and allow for repairs, though, the shortages could still worsen as need spikes in late summer and the bitter-cold winter. Among the most significant recent strikes were an April barrage that damaged Kyiv’s largest thermal power plant and a massive attack on May 8 that targeted power generation and transmission facilities in several regions.
Ukrainian air intelligence soldier carries a drone in the direction of Bakhmut, Ukraine..
Following Saturday’s barrage, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that air defences had shot down all 25 drones launched overnight. Russia claimed Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Umanske in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Russia’s coordinated new offensive has centred on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, but seems to include testing Ukrainian defences in Donetsk farther south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
In Russia, six people were injured in shelling in the city of Shebekino in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said Sunday.
He also said that a local official, the deputy head of the Korochansky district, had been killed by “detonation of ammunition.” He gave no details. In the neighbouring Kursk region, three people were injured Sunday when an explosive device was dropped from a drone, according to acting regional head Alexey Smirnov.
Massive Airstrike on Krasnodar! Ukraine's dawn operation successful thanks to NEPTUNE missiles!
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