Russia’s military said Tuesday that Ukraine fired US-supplied long-range missiles at a military facility in the Bryansk border region, in what would be the first attack since Washington authorised the use of its weapons.
“At 03:25 am (0025 GMT), the enemy struck a site in the Bryansk region with six ballistic missiles. According to confirmed data, US-made ATACMS tactical missiles were used,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine had for months been demanding that Washington let it use the longer-range ATACMS missiles to hit sites on Russian territory.
Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to attack Russia’s internationally recognised territory would make the United States a direct participant in the conflict and pledged an “appropriate and palpable response”.
In its statement, Russia’s defence ministry said five missiles were shot down by its air defences, while fragments from a sixth fell onto an unspecified “military facility”, causing a small fire.
“There were no casualties or damage,” it said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister hailed on Monday the permission to use the missiles for strikes inside Russia as a potential “game changer” in the nearly three-year old conflict.
However, Russia said that Ukraine’s use of long-range ATACMS missiles against its territory marked a “new phase of the Western war” against Moscow, and vowed to react “accordingly.”
“This is, of course, a signal that they want to escalate,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a G20 press conference in Brazil, said of the strike.
“We will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia. And we will react accordingly,” he added, accusing Washington of helping Kyiv operate the missiles.
Russia has long asserted that the Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, is programmed by US specialists and requires guidance from American satellites.
Lavrov also urged the West to read a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that lowers the threshold for when Moscow can use nuclear weapons.
“I hope that they will read this doctrine… in its entirety,” Lavrov said.
(AFP)