Russian Forces Take Out Arms Depot That Stored US and European Weapons Near Odessa, MoD Says

The US and Europe have been delivering both lethal and non-lethal weapons worth billions of dollars to Ukraine since the start of Russia's military operation there.

The Russian Aerospace Forces have disabled a logistics terminal outside Odessa where foreign weapons from the US and European countries were stored, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

"This afternoon, high-precision long-range air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces disabled a logistics terminal at a military airfield near Odessa, where a large batch of foreign weapons received from the US and European countries was being stored", Konashenkov said in his regular evening briefing.

The Russian Defence Ministry has repeatedly warned that it will consider cargo with foreign weaponry on Ukrainian territory a legitimate military target. Moscow also stressed that foreign weaponry being delivered to Ukraine could end up in the hands of radical nationalists and that it would be impossible to control who uses it.

Earlier this week, the US announced a new package of military assistance to Kiev worth about $800 million, including 200 M113 armoured personnel vehicles, 18 155mm howitzers, and 500 Javelin portable anti-tank missile systems. Britain also said it would continue delivering arms to Ukraine and will send its high-tech Stormer armoured missile launchers to Kiev.

Russia's special military operation in Ukraine has entered its 59th day. It was launched on 24 February in response to requests from Ukraine' breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk to help them protect their civilian population amid intensified shelling by Kiev's forces. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of key goals of the operation is to carry out "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine to stop neo-Nazi radicals from abusing the Russian-speaking population in Donbass and hold them accountable for the crimes committed against innocent people in the past eight years.