Russia has accused Ukraine of using Western missiles, likely manufactured in the United States, to strike a strategic bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region. The attack reportedly resulted in the deaths of several volunteers who were attempting to evacuate civilians.

Ukrainian forces targeted the bridge in the Glushkovsky District of Kursk on Friday as they continued their incursion into western Russia. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации), announced on Telegram that this was the first instance of Western-made missile systems, presumably American HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), being utilized in the Kursk region.

“As a result of the attack on the bridge… it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting in evacuating civilians lost their lives,” Zakharova stated. The Russian news agency TASS (ТАСС) published the names of two volunteers, describing them as “murdered” in the attack. Russian officials have also noted that the destruction of the bridge will complicate the evacuation of civilians from the area.

Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk comes shortly after the U.S. and several NATO allies permitted Kyiv to use their weapons to target sites within Russia in May. Al Jazeera’s defense editor, Alex Gatopoulos, remarked that the bombing of the bridge would hinder Russian forces’ ability to defend the area against Ukrainian attacks. “Russian units are [caught] between a river and a hard place – there aren’t many options for them to retreat to at the moment,” he said.

The Ukrainian military has been fighting against the Russian invasion since February 2022 and launched its offensive in Kursk earlier this month. This campaign has been described as the first incursion by a foreign army into Russia since World War II. On Thursday, Ukraine announced that it had captured the Russian town of Sudzha, a strategic natural gas hub in the Kursk region.

Kyiv claims to have gained control over 82 settlements within Russia across an area of 1,150 square kilometers since August 6. Ukrainian officials have stated that the country does not intend to retain any Russian territory. An advisor to the Ukrainian presidency indicated that the Kursk incursion could be used to persuade the Russian Federation to enter a fair negotiation process.

For its part, Moscow has insisted that it is successfully repelling the Ukrainian offensive and inflicting heavy losses on Kyiv’s forces. TASS reported on Saturday that Russian forces shot down 10 HIMARS rockets and 35 Ukrainian drones, as well as killing 420 “enemy soldiers” in the last 24 hours.

In Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari reported that both sides are issuing conflicting information about the situation on the ground. “It is very difficult to independently verify what is happening,” Jabbari noted. “We are receiving different versions from the Ukrainian side and counter-reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense (Министерство обороны Российской Федерации).”