MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2022) The People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) gathered sufficient evidence pointing to the fact that all HIMARS systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States are controlled by Western instructors, who direct Ukrainian soldiers to target civilian infrastructure in Donbas, an officer with the LPR People's Militia, Lt. Col. Andrei Marochko, said on Monday.
"As for the instructors � this is confirmed information from three different sources, so it is reliable: indeed, all HIMARS are supported by Western English-speaking instructors. This is a fact," Marochko told Russian broadcaster Channel One.
Commenting on the targets of HIMARS strikes, the LPR army official said that Western instructors deliberately target critical civilian infrastructure and recalled a recent attack on a trolleybus depot in the city of Alchevsk, which had nothing to do with the military.
Marochko noted that the Joint Center on Control and Coordination of the ceasefire regime observed intensified usage of HIMARS by Ukrainian troops.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had previously expressed a similar opinion, saying that NATO specialists may be behind recent HIMARS attacks on Donbas. The minister also expressed the hope that the West is aware of the implications of such activities.
Last month, the United States committed 12 and delivered eight HIMARS systems to Ukraine. Pentagon policy chief Colin Kahl said on June 1 that the United States obtained the promise of the Ukrainian authorities, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not to use HIMARS against Russian territory. According to the Russian defense ministry, at least two HIMARS systems have been destroyed to date.
