Ukraine confirmed on Wednesday that it had used US weapons to attack Russian bridges over the Seym River in Kursk.

On Monday, a Russian military investigator said Ukraine had completely destroyed one of three bridges on Seym, damaging the other two. The U.S. has not officially commented on whether weapons were used.

However, a Kremlin spokesman previously accused Kiev of using weapons built in the West in its recent invasion of the Kursk region.

“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably the American HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System),” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on August 16 via the messaging app Telegram.

The Ukrainian invasion of Kursk began on August 6.

Here’s what we know about the foreign weapons Ukraine uses:

What weapons is Ukraine using in its invasion of Russia?

• Ukraine confirmed on Wednesday that it used the US-supplied HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) during its attacks on bridges in Russia.

⚡️🇺🇦M142 HIMARS attacks with GMLRS missiles and ATACMS cluster missiles on 🇷🇺Russian pontoon crossings in the Kursk region photo.twitter.com/8iCv1bsVYS

— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) August 21, 2024

• British media, including Sky News and the BBC, published speculation on August 15 that Ukraine had deployed British Challenger 2 tanks on Russian territory. The Ministry of Defence in London declined to comment on what specific weapons Ukraine was using, both media reported.
• It is also believed that German-supplied weapons were used in the Kursk invasion. Germany is one of the largest suppliers of weapons to Ukraine – after the US. It supplies Kiev with Marder infantry fighting vehicles, Leopard main battle tanks, air defense systems, drones and rocket launchers.

Which NATO countries have allowed Ukraine to use their weapons in Russia?

On May 31, US President Joe Biden relaxed a ban on the use of US weapons by Ukraine on Russian territory, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference during an informal NATO meeting in Prague.

This marks a change in Biden’s policy, which previously refused to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons in Russia.

In April, Biden approved nearly $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine, of which about $23 billion will be used to replenish military stockpiles and $14 billion will go to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through which the U.S. government will purchase weapons systems from U.S. defense contractors for Ukraine.

Alex Gatopoulos, Al Jazeera’s defense editor, reported from Kiev on Wednesday that 13 NATO countries have given Ukraine permission to use Western weapons, such as tanks, artillery systems and infantry fighting vehicles, in Russia.

These countries are: France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

What conditions does the US impose on the use of its weapons by Ukraine?

Until Biden eased restrictions on May 31, Ukraine was only allowed to use U.S. weapons on Ukrainian soil.

Officially, Washington has not yet given Ukraine permission to use US long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia. There are concerns that these missiles could be used on targets deep inside Russian territory, potentially escalating the conflict.

A long-range missile fires nuclear warheads in a projectile motion toward a distant target.

However, in April, US officials admitted that the US had quietly supplied Ukraine with long-range missiles as part of an aid package in March, and that Ukraine had twice deployed the missiles in Russian-annexed Crimea by the end of April.

On August 12, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told a news conference that he would not comment on Ukraine’s military operations. “I’ll let them tell you what they’re doing,” he said.

He dismissed ideas that the West or NATO were at war with Russia as “a funny piece of Putin propaganda,” adding: “The only people at war in Ukraine are the Russians.”

He also added that if Ukraine’s military operations in Russia make Putin uncomfortable, “He can just leave Ukraine as soon as possible and leave it at that.”

However, on August 16, a US official told Reuters news agency, on condition of anonymity, that if Ukraine were to attack non-military targets such as Russian villages, “it could be seen as overstepping the boundaries that Washington has imposed, precisely to avoid any perception of a direct NATO-Russia conflict.”

What do other NATO countries say about using their weapons in an invasion of Russia?

“The Western response has been surprisingly subdued, because the message from the West so far has been to stop Ukraine from using Western weapons on Russian territory,” Samantha de Bendern, an associate fellow in Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia program, told Al Jazeera.

• United Kingdom: On 15 August, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that British-supplied weapons could be used by Ukraine on Russian territory. However, Ukraine is still banned from using long-range Storm Shadow missiles in Russia.
• Germany: German media reported that the parliamentary Defense Committee had also confirmed that Ukraine’s use of German-supplied weapons, including armored vehicles, inside Russia was legally justified. “Weapons were transferred under the responsibility of Ukraine, which is defending itself against the aggressor and exercising its right to self-defense,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told reporters in German, as translated by the Ukrainian website Ukrainska Pravda.

What does Ukraine say about its ability to use weapons from NATO countries?

Ukraine wants restrictions imposed on the use of long-range missiles by donors such as the US and the UK to be lifted.

“The Ukrainians are very vocal in their request that the US, UK and France stop restricting the use of the long-range missiles they have supplied,” De Bendern said.

In July, Politico quoted Andriy Yermak, the top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as saying that Ukraine specifically wants the US to allow it to use longer-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to attack Russian territory.

EU President Josep Borell called on donors in an X-message on Wednesday to lift restrictions on Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive is a major blow to Russian President Putin’s message.

Lifting restrictions on the use of capabilities against the Russian military involved in aggression against Ukraine, in accordance with international law, would have several important effects:

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— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 21, 2024

What else has Russia said about the use of weapons from NATO countries?

Russia has criticized Western and NATO countries for their involvement in the invasion by supplying weapons to Ukraine.

“This is happening against the backdrop of a major reorganization in the Ministry of Defense in Russia,” De Bendern said, adding that 17 officials at the Ministry of Defense have been replaced since April.

In June, Putin dismissed four deputy defense ministers and appointed his relative Anna Tsivileva as successor to one of them.

“Every time the West promises Ukraine new weapons, Putin threatens nuclear use and terrible retaliation. Now Putin is downplaying this invasion,” Bendern said.

“The chaos in Russia shows that the armed forces are using some kind of chaotic response mechanism.”