for Moscow, strikes in Russia with American missiles mark a “new phase” in the conflict

A Ukrainian military official confirmed this Tuesday, November 19, the use of American long-range missiles to strike Russian territory, a first since the start of the war. Russia, through its minister Sergei Lavrov, promises to react “accordingly”.

The head of Russian diplomacy promised this Tuesday, November 19, an “appropriate” response to the Ukrainian firing of American ATACMS missiles against Russia, denouncing the involvement of the United States in these strikes and seeing a “new phase” in the conflict .

According to Russia, Ukrainian forces attacked its territory at night with these long-range missiles, a few days after the green light from Washington to kyiv to strike Russian soil with these weapons, which Moscow had presented as a red line. An element confirmed to Agence France Press by a senior Ukrainian military official.

“If long-range missiles are used from Ukraine towards Russian territory, this means that they are operated by American military experts. We will consider this a new phase of the Western war against Russia and we will respond accordingly “, declared Sergei Lavrov to the press in Rio de Janeiro, after the G20, urging Westerners to read “the entirety” of the new Russian doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.

He affirmed that the ATACMS could not be fired by the Ukrainians “without the help of American experts and instructors” who provide in particular “satellite data, programming and targeting”.

Sergei Lavrov estimated that the use of ATACMS to strike Russian soil was “a signal” that Ukraine and the West “want escalation”.

“It is impossible to use these high-tech missiles without the Americans,” he insisted.

The minister also recommended that Westerners “read the entirety” of the new Russian nuclear doctrine, which expands the possibility for Moscow to use atomic weapons in the event of a “massive” attack by a non-nuclear country supported by a nuclear power, a clear reference to Ukraine and the United States.

In September, Vladimir Putin warned that if Ukraine struck deep into Russian territory with Western long-range missiles, it would mean that “the NATO countries are at war with Russia.”