Friday, December 20, 2024

Six dead after Ukrainian strikes using US-made HIMARS


Six dead after Ukrainian strikes using US-made HIMARS – Russian governor
RT


Ukrainian forces launched a missile attack on Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk Region on Friday, killing six people, including a child, and injuring ten others, acting governor of the region Aleksandr Khinshtein has said. The official added that Kiev's troops had used US-made HIMARS missiles.

The strikes caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure throughout the city, damaging a a house of culture, a primary school, and living and study quarters belonging to Rylsk Aviation College. The attack also shattered windows in apartment buildings and impacted several private homes as well as 15 or more vehicles.

“What happened today is a huge tragedy for all of us,” Khinshtein wrote in a Telegram post. The work of emergency services has been complicated by repeated attacks from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the governor added.He expressed confidence that those responsible for the attack would face retribution and that all destroyed infrastructure will be repaired.

In a short video message posted on his Telegram channel on Friday, Khinshtein  accused Kiev’s forces of “deliberately choosing civilian facilities [and] social facilities as their targets.”

Several Russian Telegram channels and media outlets have published what appears to be footage of the aftermath of the attack shot by eyewitnesses. In some of these video clips, several burning cars and damaged buildings can be seen.

Rylsk is located about 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and has a population of around 15,000.

Ukrainian troops invaded Kursk Region on August 6, with a force reportedly of some 35,000 troops. The area they control has been steadily shrinking in recent months, but they still maintain a presence in some parts of the region.


Russia strikes Kiev in retaliation for Ukrainian use of Western-made missiles

RT

The Russian military has carried out missile strikes on targets in Kiev, in response to Ukraine's use of US- and UK-made missiles to attack internationally recognized Russian territory, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

On Wednesday Ukraine fired six US-donated ATACMS and four UK-made Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles, provided to Ukraine by London, at the Kamensky chemical plant in Rostov Region in southern Russia, the ministry said.

In retaliation, the Russian military has struck a Ukrainian command center and targeted installations of US-supplied Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems, Moscow claimed on Friday.

“In response to the actions of the Kiev regime, supported by its Western curators, this morning a combined strike with long-range precision weapons was launched,” a Defense Ministry statement read.

It targeted the Luch design bureau in the Ukrainian capital, which produces Neptun and Olkha missile systems, the ministry said.

“The goals of the strike were achieved. All targets were hit,” the statement added. 

Witnesses reported hearing loud explosions in several areas in Kiev on Friday morning.

The missile attack was later confirmed by the Ukrainian capital’s military administration and Kiev mayor, Vitaly Klitschko.

Moscow’s stance towards “another spiral of escalation” caused by the West’s approval of Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia is well known, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned at the time that if the Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia continue, Moscow reserves the right “to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities.”


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