The Ukrainian military uses the Stormer HVM air defense system to protect against air attacks by the Russian invaders.

In particular, these air defense systems protect Ukrainian forces in Vuhledar.

AFP journalist Arman Soldin published a video featuring the movement of this equipment.

Currently, the Russian invasion forces are trying to capture the town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region and are storming Ukrainian positions around this settlement.

#AFP We were just a few km from #Vugledar where weary Ukrainian soldiers are fighting tooth and nail to protect the town, now in the crosshairs of the invading Russian force. "The more time passes, the worse the situation gets," said Oleksandr operating his mortar #ukraine pic.twitter.com/BVGzjJExUG

— Arman Soldin (@ArmanSoldin) February 1, 2023

“We were just a few km away from Vuhledar where Ukrainian soldiers are fighting, now in the crosshairs of the invading Russian force,” Soldin wrote on Twitter.

The Russians are intensively shelling the Ukrainian city with all types of weapons. The enemy uses barrel and jet artillery and aviation.

“100% of buildings in the city were damaged, and almost entire infrastructure and utility facilities were destroyed. Since the middle of March, there are no communications in Vuhledar. There is no heating, water, light, or communication,” Maksym Verbovskyi, Deputy Head of the Vuhledar Military Administration, reported on the air of the Espresso TV channel.

The Ukrainian military deters the offensive actions of the enemy and inflicts significant losses in armored vehicles and manpower on the invasion forces.

The Stormer HVM air defense system is designed to defeat a wide range of air targets. Ukraine received this system from Great Britain in July 2022.

The Stormer HVM (High-Velocity Missile) is a short-range air defense system. It is an armored track platform with a Starstreak or Martlet LMM rocket launcher which has 8 containers mounted on it. Both missile types are already being used as MANPADS by the Ukrainian servicemen against Russia.

The vehicle has a roof-mounted panoramic weapon sight and an air defense alerting device for target recognition and prioritization. The detection range of jet aircraft-type targets is approximately 18 km, and for helicopter-type targets, it is 8 km. Target detection to launch time is under 5 seconds.

The air defense system uses the guidance method based on the principle of flight in a laser beam. The system’s automatics illuminate the target, and the missile is held in the beam and hits the target. The declared maximum range of the Starstreak missile is 7 km. The system’s altitude range is up to 7 km. In addition to the eight ready-to-fire missiles on the launcher, the vehicle can carry 12 additional missiles for reloading.