DEVELOPING: Russia Claims Ukraine Fired U.S.-Made Long-Range Missiles Into Russian Territory

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After the Biden administration gave the green light for Ukraine to fire U.S.-supplied long-range missiles into Russian territory, the Kremlin said Ukrainian forces utilized the weaponry for such attacks.

Moscow claimed Ukraine launched 6 U.S.-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) into Russian territory.

“Russia says it shot down five of the missiles and damaged the sixth,” Fox News noted.

Per Fox News:

It added that debris landed in the area of a Russian military facility, but that no casualties or damage beyond a small fire. Fox News Digital confirmed the attack with a U.S. official.

Ukraine did not immediately confirm the use of ATACMS on Tuesday, but officials did announce an attack on a military facility in Russia’s Bryansk region, the same region where Moscow says the missiles fell.

The attack came just two days after President Biden approved Ukraine to use American long-range missiles on Russian soil, an escalation that Russian President Putin previously indicated would be an act of war.

“Kyiv said on Tuesday it struck a Russian arsenal near the town of Karachev in the Bryansk region, over 110 km (70 miles) from Ukraine, in what two Ukrainian media outlets reported was a first strike with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles,” Chief Nerd wrote, citing Reuters.

CBS News reports:

So far, Ukraine’s attacks beyond the immediate border region inside Russia have been limited to non-U.S. — and much less potent— weapons such as explosive drones. ATACMS are far more destructive and harder to shoot down as they head for their programmed targets.

Zelenskyy’s government had been pushing Washington for permission to use the missiles for long-range attacks for some time but the Biden administration had been reluctant given concerns about potentially escalating the war.

Over the weekend, however, the calculus apparently changed. The decision came almost 1,000 days into the full-scale war in Ukraine, and with Mr. Biden about two months away from handing over the White House keys to President-elect Trump, who’s seen as far less supportive of Ukraine’s ambitions of hanging onto all of its Russian-occupied territory.

It also came as Russia hit Ukraine with a devastating missile attack, highlighting Ukraine’s desperate desire for the ability to target Russian weapons systems deeper inside the country before they’re launched, which Zelenskyy has stressed for more than a year.

“Ukraine fires U.S. provided long-range missiles into Russia just days after President Biden gave Ukraine the green light. The move comes just two months after Putin said that if Ukraine used these missiles to strike Russia, it would mean the U.S. is at war,” Collin Rugg wrote.

“Putin in September: If Ukraine uses U.S. long-range missiles to strike Russia, the ‘United States is at war with Russia,’” he added.

WATCH:

BBC noted:

The strike represents the first time the long-range missiles have been used on Russia’s internationally-recognised territory after Washington signalled Ukraine had permission to do so. Russia has vowed to “react accordingly.”

On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia would “proceed from the understanding” that the missiles were operated by “American military experts”.

“We will be taking this as a renewed face of the western war against Russia and we will react accordingly,” he told a press conference at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro.

Moscow said on Monday that any strikes inside its territory with the US missules would prompt an “appropriate and tangible response”.



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