Ukraine Fires First HIMARS on Russia´s Kursk Region, FSB Hit

For the first time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used HIMARS systems to attack the Kursk region of Russia, destroying an FSB building, Russian media outlet Astra reports, citing sources.

According to its sources, on Saturday, June 22, Ukraine fired two missiles from HIMARS at military facilities near Mirnyi in Suzhansky district and near Dovgi Bumi in Belovsky district.

Both missiles were allegedly shot down, but the debris partially destroyed the FSB border guard building in Suzha.

One FSB officer was injured and two cars were damaged, Astra reported.

After the attack, residents said they lost electricity.

As AP reported on June 22, citing Ukraine’s First Deputy Defense Minister, Lt. Gen. Ivan Havryliuk, the US permission for Ukraine to strike at Russian territory disrupted Kremlin plans to use over 90,000 Russian troops that had been marshaled for a new offensive in the Kharkiv region.

AP says that the deteriorating situation at the front forced Washington to allow Kyiv to use Western-supplied artillery and missile systems to defend Kharkiv, striking at the border areas where Kremlin troops gather and conduct attacks.

Members of Ukrainian brigades fighting in the Kharkiv sector told AP that within hours of receiving US permission, HIMARS missile systems began shooting at targets in Russia.

“The HIMARS were not silent for the whole day,” Hefastus an artillery commander in the Kharkiv region said, recalling the first hours when permission was granted to use the rocket systems. “From the first days, Ukrainian forces managed to destroy whole columns of troops along the border waiting for the order to enter Ukraine.”

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