Ukraine has fired long-range missiles donated by the United States to support their war effort into Russia, a day after president Biden gave the permission for it’s deployment, a move that raises concern that the war may escalate further at this point.
Ukraine used the Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms) in a strike on Russia’s Bryansk region this morning, the ministry of defence in Moscow said.
According to Russia intelligence, five missiles were shot down and one damaged, with its fragments causing a fire at a military facility in the region.
Read also:Biden allows Ukraine to launch strikes inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles
The BBC reports that the strike represents the first time the long-range missiles have been used on Russia’s internationally-recognised territory after Washington signalled Ukraine had permission to do so. Russia has vowed to “react accordingly.”
On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia would “proceed from the understanding” that the missiles were operated by “American military experts”.
“We will be taking this as a renewed face of the western war against Russia and we will react accordingly,” he told a press conference at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro.
Moscow said on Monday that any strikes inside its territor
According to the BBC, a statement released by Russia’s defence ministry said the strike was launched at 03:25.
“A fire caused by fallen debris from one of the missiles was quickly extinguished and there were no casualties,” it said.
Ukraine’s military earlier confirmed that it had struck an ammunition warehouse in the Russian region of Bryansk, but it did not specify whether Atacms were used.
It said the attack, on a depot around 100km from the border near the town of Karachev, caused 12 secondary explosions.
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