Participants meet at the stand of the Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom during the International Military-Technical Forum “Army-2021” at the Congress and Exhibition Center “Patriot” in the Moscow region, Russia, August 23, 2021. REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov
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WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – The Pentagon said Friday that there were no indications that Russia had used laser weapons in Ukraine, following Moscow’s claims that it had a new generation of powerful lasers there to hit enemy drones.
“We have no indication of the use of lasers, at least weapon lasers, in Ukraine. There is nothing to confirm that, “Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing.
Russia’s Borisov deputy prime minister for military development said earlier this week that Moscow had developed a new generation of laser weapons that would burn their targets, with a prototype called Zadira being used in Ukraine. Read more
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Almost nothing is publicly known about Zadira, but in 2017, Russian media said that the state nuclear corporation Rosatom had helped develop it.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky mockingly compared reports of Russian lasers to so-called miracle weapons that Nazi Germany uncovered in an attempt to prevent defeat in World War II.
“We see that in the third month of a full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its ‘miracle weapon’ … all this clearly shows the complete failure of the mission,” Zelensky said on Wednesday. Read more
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Report by Phil Stewart and Idris Ali; Edited by Chris Reese and Sandra Mahler
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