The Russian army said on Monday that it shot down four American HARM missiles over its territory, in the sky of the Belgorod region of Russia on the border with Ukraine, TASS reports.

Consequences of the Belgorod explosionPhoto: shot from Twitter

“Four American HARM anti-radar missiles were shot down in the airspace of the Belgorod region,” said Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, during the daily briefing on the progress of the “special military operation”.

Settlements and infrastructure in the Belgorod region often suffer from shelling, which Moscow claims is from Ukrainian forces.

American AGM-88 HARM missiles are tactical air-to-surface missiles designed to search for and destroy radar-equipped enemy air defense systems.

The USA has adapted AGM-88 “HARM” anti-radar missiles for MiG-29 fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force.

In August, Colin Kahl, assistant secretary for policy at the US Department of Defense, noted that the US had delivered several HARM missiles to Ukraine, which they had reconfigured to launch from MIG-29s, even though they were designed for US aircraft. .

In late August, Ukrainian pilots released a spectacular video showing them launching HARM missiles, a day after TASS, Russia’s most prominent state news agency, reported that Kyiv had run out of military pilots.

Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking civilian objects in Belgorod

The Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement on Monday came a day after Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed Ukrainian forces for the attacks, which left one dead and five wounded.

“Our air defense system worked over Belgorod and the Belgorod region,” he said, adding that it is known about “four victims” who are being taken to the hospital by medical teams. Later, he stated that the number of identified wounded had increased to 5 people.

Three witnesses told Reuters that loud explosions were heard in the city of Belgorod on Sunday.

Belgorod is one of the regions in southern Russia where facilities such as fuel and ammunition depots have been hit by explosions since Moscow launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

In recent months, Russian propagandists and officials in Moscow have consistently accused Ukrainian forces of attacking civilian targets in Belgorod, claims that have not been independently confirmed.

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