Cheering over launch – This video is intended to show German Gepard anti-aircraft tanks

The Ukrainian armed forces released a video on Monday showing the launch of a Russian cruise missile by a German-made Gepard anti-aircraft tank, the military said.

The short film shows a cheetah firing several shots from a position on a lightly snow-covered field, followed by a glaring explosion in the sky. The hit aircraft then falls to the ground to the cheers of Ukrainian soldiers.

"Equipment provided by partners protects Ukrainian skies from terrorist cruise missiles," it said on Facebook. “This time it is an impeccable work by the German cheetah. Thank you, Germany.”

The authenticity of the video could not initially be independently confirmed. Russia attacked Ukraine again on Monday with dozens of cruise missiles. However, the video that has now been released does not indicate when the recording was made.

Ukraine has already received 30 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks from the stocks of the manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

In addition, the delivery of seven more cheetahs was announced last Friday in Berlin.

The cheetah is considered the fastest weapon system of its kind - the turret with its two cannons rotates completely on its own axis in 2.5 seconds. It usually takes no more than four seconds from detecting an enemy to fighting it.

In June, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht explained during a survey in the German Bundestag why the cheetah is valuable for Ukraine. However, their rather descriptive but unconvincing explanation that the cheetah is not a tank caused ridicule. The SPD politician wanted to explain why the federal government is delivering cheetahs to Ukraine, but not Marder-type armored personnel carriers. However, the Bundeswehr describes the cheetah itself on the Internet as an anti-aircraft gun tank.

Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression at the end of February, Germany has delivered weapons and military equipment to Ukraine worth almost two billion euros.

According to the Ukrainian air defense, the Russian military used almost 70 cruise missiles in the new major attack on targets in Ukraine on Monday.

A large part was launched by strategic bombers from a great distance, for example over the Caspian Sea, according to the message distributed on Telegram. 22 guided missiles of the "Kalibr" type were fired from ships in the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian air defense repelled most of the attacks. "In total, more than 60 rockets from the invaders were shot down," it said. The information could not be verified. "Every Russian missile launched is concrete proof that terrorism can be defeated," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his daily video address on Monday evening.

Nevertheless, there were several hits. "Unfortunately, there are victims," ​​said Zelenskyj. Four people were killed.

The Ukrainian military is asking for Leopard main battle tanks from Germany with the slightly modified hit "Supergeil". Photos of the anti-aircraft weapons Gepard and Iris-T, which had already been delivered, were edited into the video by artist Friedrich Liechtenstein.

Quelle: Defense of Ukraine

With the new wave of attacks, Russia has celebrated an anniversary, namely that of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum. In the document signed on December 5, 1994, Russia, Great Britain and the United States had jointly given Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan security guarantees for their renunciation of all Soviet-era nuclear weapons on their territories. Among other things, the signatories pledged to respect the sovereignty and existing borders of the three ex-Soviet republics.

The fate of this document provides answers to many of today's questions about Russia, Zelenskyy said. "Just sign something with these terrorists - there will be no peace. Just make an agreement with them – they will definitely break it.”

For this reason alone, a fundamental continuation of the existing policy of the "conscientious states" of the world is necessary, said Zelenskyj, referring to all partners and supporters of Ukraine. "Only destroying Russian terrorist capabilities, only liberating our entire country and only condemning the killers can bring peace," he said.

In the new wave of attacks, Russian cruise missiles reached their targets in the cities of Odessa and Kyiv, for example. According to the government in Kyiv, three Ukrainian power plants have also been shelled.

The nationwide power grid is still intact, writes Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal on Telegram. The power plants fired on were those in the Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Odessa regions. Due to the attacks, there are power outages in some regions.