The Ukrainian military used Western-made munitions to target civilian infrastructure in Russia’s Kursk Region for the first time on Friday, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow has said.
The incident marks the latest escalation since Kiev sent troops into what its Western allies recognize as Russian territory on August 6. Previously, HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) attacks had only been conducted on regions which were formerly part of Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists on Friday that during the day, there had been several “terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime against civilian targets on Russian territory.”
“In particular, for the first time, Kursk Region was hit by Western-made rockets, most likely from an American HIMARS,” she said.
The Ukrainian attack “completely destroyed” a bridge over the Seim River in the region’s Glushkovsky District, killing volunteers who were assisting local residents with evacuation, the spokeswoman stressed.
"As we have said earlier, all those responsible for these inhumane acts will face severe punishment,” Zakharova warned.
The acting governor of Kursk Region, Aleksey Smirnov, confirmed on Friday that the bridge over the Seim River had been destroyed.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said at the time that since the start of the incursion into Kursk Region, Russian forces have eliminated at least three HIMARS systems operated by Ukrainian troops.
Earlier this week, it also published a video of one of the US-made multiple rocket launchers being blown up by an Iskander ballistic missile strike in Ukraine’s Sumy Region, which borders Russia.
According to Moscow, Kiev’s losses in the fighting in Kursk Region already total 3,160 troops and several hundred units of military hardware, including 44 tanks and 43 APCs.