ATACMS missiles transferred by the US to Ukraine. (Source: US Army)

“Over the past 24 hours, air defense systems have shot down 10 Ukrainian drones, six US-made ATACMS combat missiles and two French-made Hammer guided bombs,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to 100 servicemen, two pickup trucks and two US-made 155 mm M777 howitzers.

On the same day, Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Russia-backed Crimea, said ATACMS tactical missiles were shot down over the Crimean peninsula.

Last week, a US official revealed that in recent weeks, the US secretly transferred long-range missiles to Ukraine and Kiev used them twice.

On April 26, the New York Times (USA) quoted a source close to the Pentagon as saying that the US had transferred more than 100 ATACMS long-range tactical missiles to Ukraine, and the Pentagon admitted that Ukraine could use ATACMS to attack Crimea. The goal is to increase pressure on the peninsula.

Earlier, a representative of the US Department of Defense told RIA Novosti that the US considers the Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions - the regions annexed to Russia - to be "sovereign territories of Ukraine". Therefore, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can use ATACMS operational-tactical missiles for attacks.

On Moscow's side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the United States was directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, but this would not change the outcome of Russia's special military campaign.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev affirmed that an attack on Crimea would mean an escalation of the conflict; at the same time, he called on Ukraine to understand that such attacks would be met with an "inevitable response", regardless of what kind of weapons Kiev uses.