Ukraine used Western missiles to destroy Kursk bridge, Russia says

MOSCOW:

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine used Western missiles, possibly US-made 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 missile launchers, possibly American HIMARS,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on the Telegram messaging app late Friday.

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

There was no indication of how many volunteers were killed in Friday’s attack.

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kiev forces had advanced between 1 and 3 kilometers (0.6 to 1.9 miles) in some areas in the Kursk region on Friday, 11 days since the invasion of western Russia began. territory.

Kiev claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements in an area of ​​1,150 square kilometers (440 square miles) in the region since August 6.

The Russian Defense Ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said on Saturday that Russian forces had repelled several Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region, but did not report recapturing any territory.

It said Ukrainian forces had unsuccessfully tried to advance towards the villages of Kauchuk and Alekseyevskiy located about halfway between the Ukrainian border and the Kursk nuclear power plant.

In a separate statement, the ministry accused Ukraine of planning to attack the plant in a false flag operation.

Reuters could not independently verify anyone’s accounts from the battlefield.

Russia accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s first ground attack on Russian soil and said Kiev’s “terrorist invasion” would not change the course of the war.

The US HIMARS missiles supplied to Ukraine have a range of up to about 80 kilometers (50 miles).

The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war that began in February 2022, has so far viewed the surprise invasion as a defensive move that justifies the use of American weapons, officials in Washington said.