Russia says Ukraine used Western rockets to destroy bridge in Kursk region

MOSCOW – Russia's foreign ministry said Ukraine used Western rockets, likely the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars), to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.

“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American Himars,” Ms Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the ministry, said on Aug 16 on the Telegram messaging app.

“As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed.”

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Aug 16 that Kyiv’s forces were advancing between 1km and 3km in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia.

Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 sq km in the region since Aug 6.

Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv’s “terrorist invasion” would not change the course of the war.

The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win

the war he launched in February 2022,

so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of US weaponry, officials in Washington said. REUTERS