Moscow promises 'response' to new Ukrainian US missile strikes

Photo: Russian Defense Ministry Associated Press A drone that allows for immersive piloting is launched by a Russian soldier on November 25, 2024.

Stanislav Doshchitsyn – Agence France-Presse in kyiv

Posted at 6:59 a.m. Updated at 10:59 a.m.

• Europe

Russia on Tuesday promised a “response” to two new Ukrainian strikes carried out using American ATACMS missiles against its territory in recent days, after President Vladimir Putin threatened last week to strike sites in Western countries.

These attacks, which kyiv has not commented on, come in the midst of a new escalation of tensions between the Kremlin and Western countries, after almost three years of war in Ukraine.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian forces struck “facilities” in the Russian border region of Kursk, which has been partially occupied by the Ukrainian military since August.

They took place on November 23 near the village of Lotarevka, 37 kilometers northwest of the city of Kursk, and on November 25 against the Kursk-Vostochny airfield, the same source said.

In a rare move, the ministry acknowledged that several missiles had “hit their targets.” He also reported two Russian soldiers injured and a radar damaged in these shots.

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According to him, three of the five ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 km, were shot down by Russian air defenses during the November 23 attack, and seven of the eight projectiles were shot down during the November 25 attack.

“The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is monitoring the situation and preparing a response,” he said in a statement, accompanying his message with photos appearing to show missile debris, the authenticity of which cannot be independently confirmed.

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Western missiles and response russian

Ukraine began using long-range ATACMS missiles in Russia on November 19, and British-made Storm Shadows two days later, after getting the green light from Western allies, in response to the deployment of North Korean forces on Russia's side.

The Kremlin, which presented this as a red line, responded by firing an intermediate-range ballistic missile (up to 5,500 km) on November 21 at a military factory in the city of Dnipro, in central-eastern Ukraine.

This missile, presented by Vladimir Putin as an experimental hypersonic model, named Orechnik (“hazel” in Russian) and previously unknown, is designed to carry nuclear warheads, which was not the case during this attack.

On Thursday, the Russian president warned that the conflict in Ukraine had taken on a “global character” and threatened the West: “We consider it our right to use our weapons against the military installations of countries that authorize the use of their weapons against our installations.”

NATO-Ukraine meeting

In this very tense context, the ambassadors of NATO and Ukraine are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. While kyiv has said it expects “concrete” decisions from this meeting, diplomats from the Atlantic Alliance are more cautious.

Western ambassadors are expected to reaffirm their support for kyiv.

The Kremlin, via its spokesman Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the significance of the meeting: “It is unlikely that important decisions will be taken at the ambassadorial level.”

This resurgence of tensions also comes at a time when the Europeans and kyiv fear a halt to American military support for Ukraine, with the return of Donald Trump to the White House, and the conclusion of an agreement to the detriment of Ukraine.

The intensification of Russian attacks appears to be an attempt by Moscow to strengthen its position before possible negotiations. Russia has also received reinforcements from thousands of North Korean soldiers who, according to Washington, should “soon” fight Ukrainian forces.

Washington’s military aid is crucial for Ukraine, whose exhausted army has been retreating for months in the face of Russian troops, who are more numerous and better armed.

On Tuesday, Russia claimed the capture of a new village, this time in the Kharkiv region (northeast).

Record drone attack in Ukraine

Ukraine said Tuesday that it was targeted overnight Monday by a record 188 Russian drone strikes, which damaged residential buildings and “critical infrastructure” without causing any casualties, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Russia has been waging a campaign targeting Ukrainian energy sites for months, plunging millions of Ukrainians into darkness, a tactic described in kyiv as designed to terrorize the civilian population.

By dawn Tuesday, air defenses had managed to shoot down 76 drones in 17 Ukrainian regions, and another 95 aircraft were likely downed by electronic jamming by the Ukrainian military, according to the air force.

In kyiv, AFP journalists heard explosions during the air raid that lasted more than five hours.

In addition, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office accused Russian forces on Tuesday of executing five Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered in the Donetsk region.

Finally, in the Russian-controlled zone, at least four people were killed and seven were injured on Tuesday in Nova Kakhovka, in the occupied part of the southern Kherson region, the Russian-installed authorities announced.