RUSSIA HAS CLAIMED that Ukraine has fired US-supplied long-range missiles at a military facility in the Bryansk border region, in what would be the first attack since the US gave its approval for such strikes.
“At 03:25am (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,” Russian state news agencies reported the defence ministry as saying in a statement.
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden authorised Ukraine to use long-range American missiles against military targets inside Russia.
The decision was a major US policy shift and came as Biden prepares to leave the White House in January.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and many of his Western supporters had been pressing Biden for months to allow Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia with Western-supplied missiles, saying the US ban had made it impossible for Ukraine to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids.
But Russia had indicated that any such move would be met with retaliation against Nato.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier today signed a decree broadening the scope of when Moscow can use nuclear weapons.
The new doctrine outlines that Russia will consider using nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state if they are supported by nuclear powers.
“Aggression by a non-nuclear state with the participation of a nuclear state is considered as a joint attack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today — a clear reference to Ukraine and its Western backers.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say