MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. An UAV crew of Russia’s Battlegroup North destroyed the Ukrainian army’s HIMARS multiple rocket launcher that attacked civilian facilities on Russian territory, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported, uploading a video of the strike.

"While accomplishing a combat objective near the settlement of Khlopyaniki in the Chernigov Region, the teams of Zala and Orlan reconnaissance UAVs uncovered the Ukrainian army’s US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system whose crew deployed to a firing position and launched rockets on civilian facilities on Russian territory. The military command assigned an objective to a Geran UAV team to destroy the target," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Ukrainian army’s HIMARS MLRS was completely destroyed together with its crew as a result of prompt and well-coordinated operations by the teams of reconnaissance and strike UAV operators," it said.

The UAV team delivered a strike on the enemy’s rocket launcher at the time of its movement and live-recording images recorded a secondary detonation of its ammunition load and the MLRS engulfed by flames. At the time of the enemy’s attempt to evacuate its crew, a Geran UAV operator delivered a second strike on it, the ministry reported.

Overall, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 1,642 multiple rocket launchers of the Ukrainian army since the start of the special military operation, the ministry said.