The air war between Russia and Ukraine is experiencing a sudden escalation after Washington gave Ukraine the green light to use Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) missiles on Russian soil. The United States' decision, revealed by the American press on Sunday, November 17, came as Russia carried out a series of massive bombings (more than 120 missiles) on Ukraine, Sunday and Monday, which caused dozens of deaths. and destroyed numerous civilian infrastructures.
More unexpectedly, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, authorized the delivery of antipersonnel mines to Ukraine, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing an official American source. Military aid intended to slow down the Russian offensive in the Donetsk region. These American mines, unlike conventional antipersonnel mines, are supposed to deactivate automatically when their battery runs out.
kyiv welcomed these American decisions, requested for more than two years, with relief. ATACMS will allow the Ukrainian armed forces to reach certain air bases and remote Russian military logistics centers, from where the deadliest attacks against its population originate.
A “new phase” in the conflict
Ukraine for the first time fired a salvo of eight ATACMS missiles during the night from Monday to Tuesday. The arsenal at logistics center No. 1046 near Karachev in the Bryansk region, 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, was hit, as evidenced by several videos showing a huge fireball rising into the night sky. An American military source cited by Reuters indicates that Russian anti-aircraft defenses shot down two of the eight missiles, while, on the Russian side, the Ministry of Defense claims that five ATACMS were destroyed.
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A new Ukrainian attack took place overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, this time using drones. Russian state media speak of a wave of forty-five drones and Russian social networks report explosions heard in the Belgorod, Vorojej and Moscow regions. Videos published shortly after on social networks showed explosions at industrial sites in Kamian (Voronezh region) and Alexeyevka (Belgorod region).
Moscow reacted strongly to the American decision through its foreign minister. Sergei Lavrov promised a response on Tuesday “appropriate” to ATACMS fire, which marks for him a “new phase” in the conflict. On Wednesday morning, Ukrainian naval forces reported that the Russian military fleet had deployed six ships carrying a total of twenty-three Kalibr cruise missiles to the Black Sea. At the same time, the American embassy in kyiv warned of “possible significant air attack”.
