MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. The United States is behind the recent Ukrainian attack, where a hospital in Novoaidar in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) was hit by a HIMARS projectile, a senior Russian diplomat told RTVI on Thursday.
Commenting on the use of Western-supplied weapons by Ukrainian forces to shell residential buildings, schools and hospitals, killing civilians and damaging civilian infrastructure, Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, said, "These are military crimes, and a violation of international humanitarian law involving weapons suppliers."
"It is clear that the United States, too, is responsible for this military crime," he added, referring to the Novoaidar attack which left 14 people dead and 24 others wounded.
The Russian diplomat underscored that any weapons supplies to Ukraine lead to escalation. "They increase the involvement of the countries supplying weapons, while making them party to the conflict. And the weapons themselves are a legitimate military target of the Russian Armed Forces," he added.