British rocket launchers turning the tide against Russia filmed for the first time
Three British rockets streaked into the sky towards Russian forces under attack in a key frontline town in eastern Ukraine.
The target was a mobile Russian command post. A Ukrainian artillery officer said it would have been hit because his soldiers never miss.
Sky News is the first to be granted permission to film a multiple-launch rocket system given to Ukraine by the UK in action during the war and to meet the soldiers operating it.
“Thanks to these weapons, we’ve carried out really high priority missions,” said the commander of the artillery unit, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
This included hitting military bases, columns of armoured vehicles and ammunition stores.
UK and German weapons responsible for 30% of Ukraine’s success in the east
The commander said, in his opinion, around 30% of the successes achieved by Ukraine in a major counter-offensive in the east were thanks to British, as well as German, rocket launchers.
“This is one of the key factors, which influenced the Russian army not just to retreat, but to run,” the officer said, referring to the recapture in recent weeks of swathes of illegally-occupied territory across Kharkiv region and into the Donbas.
Sky News was granted exclusive access last week to soldiers operating one of six M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) that Britain has given to Ukraine.
The commander and a number of his men also received training in the UK on how to operate the system.
“I want to say thank you to all officers, sergeants and instructors who took part in our training, because it was so powerful,” the officer said.
“They gave us a lot… Thanks to the training, only three days after returning from England we were already carrying out missions.”
Hidden in a line of trees in the middle of sprawling fields, the dark green contraption – the size of a large pickup truck on a set of tracked wheels – was deliberately hard to find.
We were not allowed to reveal the location nor the true names of any of the soldiers we met.
Ukraine’s limited number of long-range artillery pieces make them a prime target for Russia.
But the mood among troops at their makeshift base under the trees seemed pretty relaxed.
They were just exhausted having worked through the night and into the day, conducting “fire missions” against Russian targets as part of a Ukrainian advance on the town of Lyman.
Rocket launcher doubles up as mobile home for soldiers
We met the unit on 29 September. The town was recaptured by Ukraine two days later.
One of the soldiers, who his commander named as “Ghost Rider”, showed us around the rocket launcher, which loomed over him, framed by orange-coloured autumn leaves.
It is a mobile home as much as a war machine, with the servicemen eating, sleeping and fighting from inside a cabin built at the front.
Dotted around a steering wheel, control panel and computer screen was a tin can of bacon, a slumped rifle, even an air-freshener attached to a wire in a corner on the ceiling.
There were also tell-tale signs of the rocket launcher’s British owners and American manufacturers, with panel instructions such as “fire extinguisher” and “turn indicator” in English.
The long, green missiles, stored on a large rectangular-box-shaped launcher, sit behind the cabin, making the weapon completely self-contained.
Three soldiers operate the system, one giving commands, another ensuring the coordinates for the target are correct on the inbuilt computer panel and a third driving.
Asked how he felt when he fired the launcher, knowing he was attacking Russian positions, Ghost Rider, a young lieutenant, said: “After launch, the first feeling was my heart like this – boom, boom. That’s all. And then everything was calm.”
Men on duty 24/7 for month-and-a-half
This unit of artillery men and engineers has kept the weapon operational and on the move 24 hours a day, every day for the past month and a half.
It’s not easy. In service since the First Gulf War back in 1990 to 1991, the system is often in need of repair and their headquarters can call at any moment to order a strike.
By the time we joined the team on 29 September, they had already carried out six operations over the past 24 hours, with minimal sleep, launching around 50 rockets.
The artillery commander, whose unit operates the six British multiple launch rocket systems as well as three German MARS II launchers, said they only go after high-value targets.
Their missile-supply is finite, so the Ukrainians need to be selective.
It is also about quality rather than quantity.
The missiles fired by the British system – Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System munition, or M31A1 – are precision-guided, with a range of more than 50 miles (80km).
It means they are highly accurate. This also reduces the potential for civilian casualties.
In contrast, much of Russia’s artillery systems – and the Soviet-era launchers previously used by Ukraine – must bombard a target with a barrage of rockets to ensure it is destroyed, requiring much more ammunition and causing a lot more collateral destruction.
As we waited with the soldiers, a missile resupply arrived.
A large vehicle with a mini crane rolled into sight along the treeline. It lowered several missiles – each with M31A1 written in white on the side – for them to be slotted into the MLRS.
‘Fire’ shouted in English
Minutes later, the team received a strike order. It was the mission to target the mobile command post.
The operators scrambled into their cabin and drove the giant weapon out of its leafy shelter. A tree branch jutted out of one side – remnants of the camouflage.
They headed to a field, the tracked wheels enabling the team to travel with ease and at a decent speed despite the muddy ground.
Firing spot chosen, the launcher was slowly pointed diagonally upwards. It made the same kind of grinding mechanical noise as a forklift truck being raised.
Target locked, a commander in the cabin said “fire” in English, a switch was flicked and the rockets were launched.
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The team then needed to move away quickly because of the possibility of Russian forces working out where the artillery came from and returning fire.
The whole process, from aiming to firing, is done in a couple of minutes – American operators in the past have coined the phrase “shoot and scoot”. The weapon is also nicknamed the “70km sniper rifle” – a nod to its range and accuracy.
Back under tree cover, the unit waited once more for instructions.
After about three hours of standing around, checking an encrypted device used to receive instructions, a Ukrainian Humvee churned into view through the undergrowth. It was part of a force tasked with protecting the system.
The soldiers chatted, then another firing mission came in and out the rocket launcher rolled.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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77 year old JSO activist recalled to prison
As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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