War in Ukraine | Moscow reports two new US missile strikes and promises a “response”

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

These attacks, which Kyiv has not commented on, occur 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 have struck “facilities” in the Russian border region of Kursk partially occupied by the Ukrainian army 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, according to the same source.

He recognized, a rare occurrence, that several missiles had “hit their targets” and reported two Russian soldiers injured and a radar damaged in these shots.

According to him, three ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 km, out of the five fired were shot down by the Russian anti-aircraft defense during the attack of November 23 and seven projectiles out of eight fired during that of November 25.

“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 confirmed independently.

Ukraine began using long-range ATACMS missiles in Russia on November 19, as well as British-made Storm Shadows two days later, after obtaining the green light from Western allies, a response to the deployment of North Korean forces. on the Russian 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 the center-east of Turkey. Ukraine.

This missile, presented by Vladimir Putin as an experimental hypersonic model, called Orechnik and hitherto 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 Westerners: “We consider ourselves within our right to use our weapons against the military installations of countries which 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. If Kyiv said it expected “concrete” decisions from this meeting, Alliance diplomats were more cautious.

Western ambassadors are expected to reaffirm their support for Kyiv.

The Kremlin, via its spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, brushed aside the scope of the meeting: “It is unlikely that important decisions will be taken at ambassadorial level.”

This renewed tension also comes at a time when Europeans and Kyiv fear an end 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 also received reinforcements from thousands of North Korean soldiers who should, according to Washington, fight Ukrainian forces “soon”.

Military aid from Washington is crucial for Ukraine, whose exhausted army has been retreating for months against 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 (North-East).

Record attack in Ukraine

Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had been targeted overnight from Monday to Tuesday by a record attack by 188 Russian drones, which damaged residential buildings and “essential infrastructure”, without causing any casualties, according to the army. Ukrainian tune

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

As of dawn Tuesday, air defense managed to shoot down 76 drones in 17 Ukrainian regions and another 95 aircraft likely fell due to electronic jamming by the Ukrainian military, according to the Air Force.

In Kyiv, AFP journalists heard explosions during the air alert which lasted more than five hours.

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

Finally, in the area under Russian control, at least four people were killed and seven injured on Tuesday in Nova Kakhovka, in the occupied part of the southern region of Kherson, announced the authorities installed by Russia.