Image Credit: twitter screenshots 
Ukraine authorities have taken credit for a recent bombing they say destroyed a Russian arms depot, but Russia claims it actually hit a fertilizer facility in a civilian area.
Monday night, multiple videos of a massive explosion in the Kherson region began to spread online.
The ammunition used in the attack was allegedly a HIMARS rocket supplied by the United States in its more than $54 billion given to Ukraine thus far.
A US Defense Department official told CNBC a security package approved last week included four additional HIMARS, “which brings the total number of HIMARS transfers to Ukraine from U.S. arsenals to 12.”
On Monday, the BBC reported, “Ukraine’s military says it has destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in the southern city of Nova Kakhovka, killing dozens of soldiers, in an attack apparently involving US-supplied missiles.”
The BBC went on to note, “Russian occupation officials say homes and warehouses were hit, leaving seven dead and up to 80 hurt,” and that “Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak attributed the attack to the US-supplied Himars multiple rocket launcher.”
A video report of the explosion by the Guardian also reported seven people were killed and showed aftermath footage of locals cleaning up what looks like a civilian area.
Ekaterina Gubareva, Deputy Head of the newly occupied Kherson region for separatist forces, said the Ukrainians bombed “peaceful cities with American weapons.”
In a recording showing the damage done by the bombing, Gubareva told the camera, “What you see here is a large amount of destruction of urban infrastructure. We see it was the shops, the market, the bus station, the church and a large number of buildings destroyed.”
Regarding the huge explosion seen in the videos, another separatist spokesperson said, “warehouses containing the mineral fertilizer saltpeter had exploded.”
A Russian Senator named Olga Kovitidi told the TASS Russian News Agency the blood of the alleged seven killed and 80 wounded in the blasts is on the hands of the United States.
“First of all, I want to convey words of sympathy and sincere condolences to the families of those killed in this vicious act of military terror. The entire responsibility for the missile strike delivered from the American HIMARS multiple launch weapons at Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson Region rests on the US current authorities and their criminal accomplices,” Kovitidi told TASS.
“US and UK military terror in Ukraine is geared towards intimidating both Ukraine’s population, and the allied forces of Russia and the Donbass republics, who are supporting the local population and Ukrainian soldiers who are refusing to fight,” she continued. “This terror is manifested in the use of missile strikes, all types of violence, repression against opponents, encouraging lynchings, and the use of torture on prisoners and dissident civilians.”
Kovitidi went on to claim US President Joe Biden partially started the war in Ukraine to avoid domestic issues created “because of his incompetence.”
“Instead of taking urgent measures to save the economy, and settle the fuel crisis,” Biden is allocating billions of dollars “for the war with Russia on Ukrainian territory,” she explained.
Considering America’s history in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, would it really be surprising for the US to knowingly provide weapons to be used in attacks on civilians?
