Image source, White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs
photo caption, Biden authorized Ukraine to use his country’s long-range missiles on Russian territory. (file photo)Item information
- Author, Writing
- Author title, BBC News World
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November 19, 2024
For the first time since the start of the war, Ukraine fired long-range missiles provided by the United States against targets on Russian territory.
These are the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles that Joe Biden’s government allowed Ukraine to use against Russian territory days ago.
“At 03:25 (00:25 GMT) the enemy attacked a point in the Bryansk region with six ballistic missiles. According to confirmed data, American ATACMS tactical missiles were used,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Five missiles were shot down and another was damagedand its fragments caused a fire at a military installation in the region, the statement said.
US officials confirmed to BBC partner CBS that ATACMS missiles supplied by that country were launched against targets on Russian territory.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a press conference at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro after the attack: “This is, of course, a sign that they (from the West) want to escalate (the conflict). ”
Moscow had already warned that such an attack would make the US a direct participant in the conflict. In Lavrov’s words: “We will take it as a new phase of the West’s war against Russia and we will react accordingly“
For its part, the Ukrainian army confirmed the attack on an ammunition depot in the Russian region of Bryansk, but without specifying whether ATACMS missiles were used.
According to their information, the attack on a warehouse about 100 kilometers from the border, near the city of Karachev, caused 12 secondary explosions.
Shortly before the attack, this same Tuesday morning, the Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved changes to the country’s nuclear doctrineestablish new conditions under which the country would consider the use of its arsenal.
It now specifies that an attack by a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear power, will be treated as a joint attack against Russia.
The US has not yet officially commented on the possible use of ATACMS on Russian territory, but it has made a statement regarding the change in nuclear doctrine.
“As we said earlier this month, we were not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it would update its nuclear doctrine,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement.
1,000 days of war
This new escalation in the conflict comes when 1,000 days have passed since the war between Russia and Ukraine began.
In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine published a statement on Tuesday in which it urged its allied countries to increase military support and said: “We need peace through force, not through peace.”
“Ukraine will not submit to the occupiers and the Russian army will be punished for violating international law,” he declared.
On Monday, Moscow had already said that an attack with these American weapons would unleash a “appropriate and tangible response”.
