Ukraine says it has destroyed nine Russian helicopters in an air strike on two cities in the Russian-occupied east of the country.

A special forces statement said an air defence system and other equipment were hit, as well as a munitions dump, in the cities of Berdyansk and Luhansk.

Dozens of Russian troops were killed or injured in the operation, it added.

The United States has quietly delivered a small number of long-range ballistic missiles that Ukraine said it urgently needed and that President Joe Biden promised last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Tuesday, saying they were used on the battlefield against Russia and “executed very accurately.”

”Today I express special gratitude to the United States,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address, adding that the missiles “have proven themselves.”

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