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Fragments of Tochka-U missile used by Ukrainian army found on Kramatorsk strike site

The Tochka-U tactical missile is used only by the Ukrainian army, the Russian Defense Ministry pointed out

© AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, archive

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry rejected Kiev’s claims of a missile strike by Russian troops on the Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, with fragments of a Tochka-U tactical missile used by the Ukrainian military found at the scene, the ministry reported on Friday.

"All the claims by representatives of the Kiev nationalist regime that Russia allegedly carried out a ‘missile attack’ on April 8 against the railway terminal in Kramatorsk are a provocation and completely have nothing to do with reality. The Russian Armed Forces had no fire tasks and planned none in the town of Kramatorsk on April 8," the ministry stressed.

The Tochka-U tactical missile whose fragments were found near the Kramatorsk terminal, and the relevant footage was posted by eye-witnesses, is used only by the Ukrainian army, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.

"On March 14, 2022, a battalion of the Ukrainian army’s 19th separate missile brigade delivered a strike by a similar Tochka-U missile against the center of Donetsk, in which 17 people were killed and another 36 civilians were wounded," the ministry said.

Spokesman for the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Eduard Basurin said earlier on Friday that about 30 people were killed after a Tochka-U missile hit the railway station in Kramatorsk.

The Tochka-U is an upgraded version of the Soviet Tochka precision tactical missile system designated to strike selective small-size targets deep in the enemy defense. It is made up of a one-stage missile guided along its entire flight path and operational at a range of 15 km to 120 km.

The Russian Army has not used Tochka-U missiles since late 2019 when the last missile and artillery unit was rearmed with Iskander tactical missile systems. According to various data, the Ukrainian military currently operates from 38 to 90 Tochka-U systems and several hundred missiles.

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