Russia says Ukraine has fired US-supplied long-range missiles into the nation, a day after Washington gave its permission for such assaults.
Ukraine used the Military Tactical Missile System (Atacms) in a strike on Russia’s Bryansk area this morning, the ministry of defence in Moscow mentioned.
5 missiles have been shot down and one broken, with its fragments inflicting a hearth at a army facility within the area, it mentioned.
The strike represents the primary time the long-range missiles have been used on Russia’s internationally-recognised territory after Washington signalled Ukraine had permission to take action. Russia has vowed to “react accordingly.”
On Tuesday, Russia’s overseas minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned Russia would “proceed from the understanding” that the missiles have been operated by “American army specialists”.
“We can be taking this as a renewed face of the western conflict in opposition to Russia and we are going to react accordingly,” he advised a press convention on the G20 in Rio de Janeiro.
Moscow mentioned on Monday that any strikes inside its territory with the US missules would immediate an “acceptable and tangible response”.
Ukraine has already been utilizing Atacms in Russian-occupied areas of its personal territory for greater than a yr.
The missiles can hit targets at a variety of as much as 300km (186 miles) and are tough to intercept.
Kyiv is now in a position to strike deeper into Russia utilizing the missiles, together with across the Kursk area, the place Ukrainian forces maintain over 1,000 sq km of territory. Ukrainian and US officers reportedly count on a counter-offensive within the area.
In a press release, Russia’s defence ministry mentioned the strike was launched at 03:25 (00:25 GMT).
A hearth attributable to fallen particles from one of many missiles was rapidly extinguished and there have been no casualties, it mentioned.
Ukraine’s army earlier confirmed that it had struck an ammunition warehouse within the Russian area of Bryansk, nevertheless it didn’t specify whether or not Atacms have been used.
It mentioned the assault, on a depot round 100km from the border close to the city of Karachev, induced 12 secondary explosions.
In the meantime, earlier on Tuesday, Putin permitted modifications to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, setting out new situations below which the nation would think about using its arsenal.
It now says an assault from a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear energy, can be handled as a joint assault on Russia.
