The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the United States is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

American HIMARS launchers in UkrainePhoto: Twitter

In a statement published on Telegram, the ministry accused the US of approving targets for the US HIMARS systems currently in use by Ukraine.

Also on Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has destroyed six US-made HIMARS missile systems, Interfax reports, citing Reuters.

As early as Monday, Russia announced that it had destroyed two more US HIMARS systems, but the Ukrainian military denied this and mocked Moscow, commenting that they were M1152 HMMWV military medical vehicles.

Shoigu said Russia also destroyed five Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers and 33 M777 howitzers after Moscow deployed tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24.

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the information.

Ukrainian officials said the military uses 12 HIMARS systems, whose accuracy and long range have allowed Kyiv to reduce Russia’s artillery superiority.

On Monday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced that 4 more American HIMARS missile systems had arrived in Ukraine. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine also announced on Twitter that new weapons had arrived from Germany. This is the third MARS II salvo launch system.