OREANDA-NEWS Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated that US advisors act as "gun pointers" in the Ukraine conflict. The statement comes after the Telegraph reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine consult Washington before opening fire from the US-­made HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems), amid Russia's ongoing special military operation in the country.

The newspaper quoted Major General Vadym Skibitsky, acting deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, as claiming that the US along with the UK are helping Kiev hunt “Russian spies targeting Western-supplied weapons.”Skibitsky also told the Telegraph that although US officials are not providing direct targeting information related to the Ukrainian army’s attacks on Donbass settlements, there was a level of consultation between the intelligence officials of both countries prior to the launching of HIMARS missiles.

The Ukrainian military has repeatedly shelled the settlements in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region using HIMARS systems. The Ukrainian forces also launched a strike on a prison in Yelenovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, where the captured members of the Azov regiment were being kept. About 50 people were killed in the strike.Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, following a request from Donbass republics to protect them from Kiev’s provocations.