MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/. Russian air defense systems shot down 4 HIMARS MLRS and 5 drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces over the past day, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, said on Wednesday.

"Over the past day, air defense systems shot down four HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of the settlements of Novaya Kakhovka, Nikolaevka in the Kherson region, Chervonoarmeyskoye in the Zaporozhye region, Nikolskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic and Shipilovka in the Lugansk People's Republic," he said.

According to Konashenkov, since the beginning of the special military operation, 398 aircraft, 217 helicopters, 3,361 unmanned aerial vehicles, 410 anti-aircraft missile systems, 8,222 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,055 multiple launch rocket systems combat vehicles, 4,300 cannons, field artillery and mortars, and 8,798 special military vehicles have been destroyed.

The Russian forces also hit the Ukrainian radar station (RLS) and the headquarters of the 59th motorized infantry brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk People's Republic, Konashenkov added.

The actions of ten sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were stopped in the direction of Kupyansk, about 60 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 armored vehicles, 3 cars and an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer were also destroyed in one day, the representative of the Ministry added.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost up to 130 servicemen and nine pieces of equipment in the Krasnolymansk direction over the past 24 hours. Subdivisions of the Russian Southern Group of Forces destroyed over 180 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the day during active operations in the Donetsk direction. Meanwhile, the Vostok grouping of the Russian Armed Forces in the Yuzhno-Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions destroyed over 65 Ukrainian military personnel, as well as a Msta-B howitzer over the past day.