Ukraine has launched its first American-supplied long-range missile strike against Vladimir Putin’s forces, according to Moscow.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that that Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMs missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region. In a statement reported by Russian news agencies, the ministry said it shot down five of them and damaged one more.
Ukraine didn’t immediately confirm the use of ATACMs in a strike on the region.
The announcement comes after US Joe Biden authorised Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike hundreds of miles inside Russia for the first time.
It comes as Putin has signed a revised nuclear doctrine to lower the bar for future nuclear weapon use.
The updated doctrine, first announced in September but signed by Putin this week, declares that an attack using conventional weapons by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will now be considered a joint attack on Russia. It does not specify whether a joint attack will trigger a nuclear response.
But the doctrine does declare that a massive aerial attack against Russia could trigger a nuclear response.
Russia is secretly developing a petrifying new weapon
In a secret factory in central Russia, engineers are manufacturing hundreds of decoy drones meant to overwhelm Ukrainian defences as they try to protect against a horrific new weapon.
The plant in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone recently started churning out thermobaric drones alongside the decoys, an Associated Press investigation has found. The thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and heat that can penetrate thick walls. They suck out all the oxygen in their path, and have a fearsome reputation because of the injuries inflicted even outside the initial blast site: Collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, brain damage.
Alex Croft19 November 2024 12:23
Putin’s forces hit with first ATACMS long-range missile after US decision, Moscow says
Kyiv said on Tuesday it struck a Russian arsenal near the town of Karachev in the Bryansk region, over 70 miles (110 km) from Ukraine, in what two Ukrainian media outlets reported was a first strike with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles.
There was no official confirmation from Ukraine about what weapon was used. The military’s general staff and military intelligence agency did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Kyiv was granted permission by the White House to use US supplied weapons to strike deeper into Russia.
Ukrainian outlets Forbes Ukraine and RBC Ukraine cited unnamed sources as saying that ATACMS had been used for the first time to conduct the strike in Karachev.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMs missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region.
In a statement carried by Russian news agencies, the ministry said it shot down five of them and damaged one more.
The fragments fell on the territory of an unspecified military facility, the ministry said. The announcement comes shortly after Washington lifted restrictions on Ukraine using U.S.-made longer-range missiles to strike Russia.
Joe Middleton19 November 2024 12:14
Ukraine uses American long-range missiles for first time
Ukraine has struck Russia territory with the American long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles for the first time, according to a source within the Ukrainian military.
The strike targeted a military facility near the city of Karachev in the Bryansk region of Russia overnight on Tuesday, the source told RBC-Ukraine.
“Indeed, for the first time, we used ATACMS to strike Russian territory. The strike was carried out against a facility in the Bryansk region, and it was successfully hit,” the source said.
Karachev is near Bryansk, which is around 120 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Alex Croft19 November 2024 12:12
Number of North Korean troops in Russia could reach 100,000, says Zelensky
The number of North Korean troops inside Russia could grow up to 100,000, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“Now, Putin has brought 11,000 North Korean troops to Ukraine borders. This contingent may grow to 100,000,” Mr Zelensky said in a virtual address to the European Parliament.
Kyiv and Western allies say North Korea has been supplying Russia with weaponry and troops, as Russian president Vladimir Putin’s forces seeks to seize as much territory as possible to strengthen Moscow’s negotiating position when US president-elect Donald Trump takes power.
North Korean troops have already engaged in combat operations against Ukrainian forces, South Korea’s spy agency said last week.
Alex Croft19 November 2024 11:57
Two people suspected of assassinating Russian naval officer arrested
Russia has arrested two suspects who are believed to have assassinated a senior naval officer with a car bomb in Crimea last week, investigators said on Tuesday.
Valery Trankovsky, a naval captain and the chief of staff of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea, died in the bombing in the city of Sevastopol.
A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) source told Reuters it was responsible for the operation.
The two suspects are a 47-year-old man, accused of making and detonating the bomb, and a 38-year-old woman accused of carrying out surveillance on the target.
In a video published by Russian military news outlet Zvezda, the pair were shown confessing the crime. Their faces were blurred and it was not clear if they were speaking freely or under duress.
Alex Croft19 November 2024 11:41
Opinion: It’s not yet World War Three – but ‘World War Z’ has begun
Time was when optimists responded to the imminence of world war with a cocky: “It’ll all be over by Christmas…”
Since President Biden’s foreign policy team leaked his decision yesterday to let Ukraine use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike military targets within Russia, pessimists have been warning that World War Three will start by Christmas.
It’s not yet World War Three – but ‘World War Z’ has begun
Joe Biden granting Ukraine permission to use Nato-supplied rockets to attack military targets within Russia is an escalation of a European conflict now in its 1,000th day – and, though it is far from being a global conflict, the West is effectively now at war with Putin’s forces, says Mark Almond
Alex Croft19 November 2024 11:25
Damaged undersea internet cables must be seen as ‘sabotage’, says German defence minister
Two undersea internet cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged on Sunday and Monday in what must be seen as an act of sabotage, the German defence minister has said.
A pair of fibre-optic communicatons cables connecting Germany to Findland and Lithuania to Sweden were severed. A joint statement from Finland and Germany said it “immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage”.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius said before a meeting with his EU counterparts on Tuesday that “no one believes” the cables were cut accidentally.
He added: “I also don’t want to believe in versions that these were anchors that accidentally caused damage over these cables.
“Therefore we have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a ‘hybrid’ action. And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”
Alex Croft19 November 2024 11:06
We are watching situation closely, says Kremlin
After reports merged that Ukraine might use the US-made ATACMS missile in Russia’s Kursk region, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military was monitoring the situation very closely.
It comes after US president Joe Biden’s administration allowed Ukraine to use the long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia, acccording to two US officials and a source familiar decision.
Alex Croft19 November 2024 10:32