MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. The United States must have known about the shelling attack on Lisichansk, because the strike was made from an American HIMARS system, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador at Large for issues of the Kiev regime crimes Rodion Miroshnik said.
"We know one thing: according to the investigative committee, the HIMARS systems that were used to hit Lisichansk have targeting and strike authorization systems, which belong to the manufacturer, meaning that the Americans gave permission to use the systems. They gave the greenlight to deliver this strike," he said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.
"It is yet to be found out who initiated the strike or what the purpose behind it was. But in this case, there is no doubt about who is to blame and who took part in it. Either in the shelling attack on Lisichansk or in downing the Il-76 plane over the Belgorod Region," he emphasized.
On February 3, Ukrainian troops attacked the city of Lisichansk in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) with HIMARS rockets, hitting a bakery and killing 28 civilians, including one child. Ten people were rescued from under the rubble. LPR Emergencies Minister Alexey Poteleshchenko and two municipal lawmakers - Artyom Trostyansky and Ivan Zhushma - were among those killed.