Ukraine-Russia Latest: Putin’s Forces Hit With First ATACMS Long-Range Missiles After US Decision, Moscow Says
Use of the missiles was also reported in the Ukrainian media, but Kyiv has not commented.
The announcement comes after U.S. president Joe Biden authorised Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike hundreds of miles inside Russia for the first time.
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 commends German refusal to provide long-range missiles to KyivGermany’s decision not to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine is a “responsible position”, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
On Monday, Germany confirmed it would not provide long-range missiles despite recent U.S. approval for the use of American long-range missiles deep in Russia territory.
Ukraine fired its first U.S.-made long-range missile at Russia’s Bryansk region on Tuesday.
Lavrov described this as an escalation, saying: “Without the Americans, it is impossible to use these high-tech missiles, as Putin has repeatedly said.”
Alex Croft19 November 2024 14:06
Mapped: Where did Ukraine strike Russia with an American long-range missile?Ukraine has used a long-range American missile on targets inside Russia for the first time.
The military struck the area of Karachev in Russia’s southwestern Bryansk region, it said.
This is more than 100 kilometres into Russian territory.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine’s General Staff said a strike hit the arsenal of the 1046th Logistics Support Center.
Multiple explosions were heard in the targeted area, the General Staff said. “The destruction of ammunition depots for the Russian occupying forces, aimed at ending Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, will continue,” a statement read.
Ukraine struck Russia’s Bryansk region (Google Maps)Alex Croft19 November 2024 13:54
Zelensky: ‘Decisive moments’ in the war will come in next yearAddressing parliament, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the war’s “decisive moments” will come in the next year.
On the 1,000th day of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, Mr Zelensky told Kyiv’s legislators: “At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will prevail. Whether us over the enemy, or the enemy over us Ukrainians… and Europeans. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator.”
A candlie-lit commemmoration is planned for later on Tuesday after thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over six million have been displaced as refugees and the population has fallen by a quarter.
Mr Zelensky adressing parliament on the 1,000th day of Russian invasion (AP)Alex Croft19 November 2024 13:42
Editorial: At last Biden is taking real steps to help Ukraine – but is it too little too late?“What took you so long, Joe?” President Biden’s belated decision to allow Ukrainian armed forces to deploy a key US-supplied missile system deeper into Russian territory will be a welcome boost to morale in Kyiv, as well as being of some material help. It should also prompt the British and French to follow suit and to generally encourage other allies to boost their support for Ukraine.
However, it is painful to reflect on how much more effective this change in tactics would have been had the move been made, say, a year or two ago. In hindsight, President Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats about escalation proved to be empty – and now no one thinks he’s about to bomb New York, Paris or London in revenge for the West giving the Ukrainians more firepower. As it is, in the dying days of the Biden administration, it seems unlikely to be the kind of “game changer” that President Zelensky and his long-suffering people have been virtually begging from the West since the earliest days of this conflict.
Read The Independent’s editorial:
Alex Croft19 November 2024 13:30
Watch: David Lammy marks 1,000 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Alex Croft19 November 2024 13:19
David Lammy says UK must put Ukraine in ‘strongest position possible’Alex Croft19 November 2024 13:04
Ukrainians mark 1,000 days since Russian invasionUkraine marked 1,000 days today since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with weary troops battling on numerous fronts, Kyiv besieged by frequent drone and missile strikes, and officials preparing for Donald Trump to reclaim the White House in January.
In a boost for the beleaguered country, US president Joe Biden gave the green light for US missiles to be used against targets deeper inside Russia, potentially limiting its options to launch attacks and supply the front.
But the dramatic shift in policy may be reversed when Mr Trump returns to the White House in January, and military experts cautioned that it would not be enough on its own to change the course of the 33-month-old war.
Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over 6 million live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion by land, sea and air that began Europe’s biggest conflict since the Second World War.
Military losses have been catastrophic, although they remain closely guarded secrets. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports vary widely, but most say hundreds of thousands have been killed or wounded on each side.
Tragedy has touched families in every corner of Ukraine, where military funerals are commonplace in major cities and far-flung villages, and people are exhausted by sleepless nights of air raid sirens and anguish.
Now the return of Mr Trump, who has vowed to end the fighting quickly – without saying how – calls into question the future of US military aid and the united Western front against Mr Putin, and raises the prospect of talks to end the war.
Alex Croft19 November 2024 12:50
In pictures: Fierce fighting continues on Donetsk frontline
Ukrainian servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade fire a 2s5 152 mm self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions (24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrai)
The Donetsk region is the focus of some of the most fierce battles (24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrai)Alex Croft19 November 2024 12:36
Russia is secretly developing a petrifying new weaponIn 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.
Read the full report:
Alex Croft19 November 2024 12:23
Putin’s forces hit with first ATACMS long-range missile after US decision, Moscow saysKyiv 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
