Russia says Kyiv used long-range cruise missiles from Britain to assault Luhansk

Reuters couldn’t confirm the battlefield stories.

Britain on Thursday turned the primary nation to say it had began supplying Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which can enable it to hit Russian troops and provide dumps far behind the frontlines because it prepares a significant counteroffensive.

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British Protection Minister Ben Wallace stated the missiles may very well be used inside Ukrainian territory, implying that he had acquired assurances from Kyiv that they might not be used to assault targets inside Russia’s internationally accepted borders.

The Russian ministry stated the missiles had hit a plant producing polymers and a meat-processing manufacturing facility in Luhansk on Friday.

“Storm Shadow air-to-air missiles equipped to the Kyiv regime by Britain had been used for the strike, opposite to London’s statements that these weapons wouldn’t be used in opposition to civilian targets,” the ministry stated.

It additionally stated Russia had downed two Ukrainian warplanes – an Su-24 and a MiG-29 – that had launched the missiles.

In its newest bulletin, the ministry additionally stated Russian forces had gained management over one other block within the japanese metropolis of Bakhmut, which Moscow has been making an attempt to seize for greater than 10 months in an attritional artillery battle.

“The models of the Airborne Forces supplied help to the assault models and pinned down the enemy on the flanks,” it stated.

The ministry typically makes use of the time period “assault models” to indicate the Wagner non-public militia, which has been spearheading the assault on Bakhmut at nice value in casualties.