Weapons depot full of Nato kit destroyed by Kremlin missiles

RUSSIA claims to have destroyed a large quantity of Nato-supplied weapons stored at a base in Ukraine as the US warned the West not to “lose steam” with its deliveries to Kyiv.

The Kremlin’s defence ministry said that high-precision, long-range missiles had obliterated “an ammunition depot of foreign weapons transferred to Ukraine by Nato countries, including 155-mm M777 howitzers” near the town of Zolochiv in the Lviv region.

The howitzers are among the weapons the Ukrainians have been requesting from Western countries as they face an onslaught of Russian artillery in the eastern Donbas region.

Russia also said it had destroyed Western-supplied military material in eastern Ukraine and had struck an air base near the southern city of Mykolaiv.

It claimed to have killed 300 Ukrainian soldiers in the air strikes, but that figure could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment on the Zolochiv attack from Kyiv.

It came as Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said yesterday that the West must “intensify” efforts to bolster Ukraine’s arms.

“We must push ourselves even harder to ensure that Ukraine can defend itself, its citizens and its territory,” he said at a meeting in Brussels with representatives from more than 45 nations involved in sending support to Kyiv.

Despite the West’s efforts, Kyiv has complained it has only received a frac- tion of what it needs to repel the Russian forces.

Jens Stoltenberg, the head of Nato, told delegates in Belgium there was an “urgent need to step up” supplies but warned it would take time to adapt Ukraine’s forces to the latest generation of heavy weapons.

President Joe Biden yesterday announced a fresh infusion of $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine that sources familiar with the package said included anti-ship rocket systems, artillery rockets, and rounds for howitzers.

Meanwhile, Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said the UK was considering sending anti-ship missiles to Ukraine as well as the weapons it had already promised.