Russia says kyiv struck its territory on Tuesday night with US long-range missiles

Six ATACM missiles were fired Tuesday, around 3:25 a.m., in the Russian region of Bryansk, assures the Russian Ministry of Defense.

A first in 1,000 days of war in Ukraine. Russia claimed on Tuesday, November 19, that Ukraine had attacked its territory with American long-range missiles during the night. This assertion comes a few days after Washington's green light to kyiv to strike Russian soil with these ATACM missiles, which Moscow had presented as a red line.

Six ATACM missiles were fired Tuesday around 3:25 a.m., aroundmilitary installations in the Bryansk region, said the Russian Defense Ministry, cited by the Tass agency. The anti-aircraft defense shot down five of these missiles and damaged another. Debris fell on the site of a military installation, starting a fire which was extinguished. Russia does not report any casualties or destruction.

While several Ukrainian media, relaying comments from anonymous Ukrainian officials, affirm that kyiv is indeed at the origin of these shots, Volodymyr Zelensky has neither denied nor confirmed this information. The Ukrainian president limited himself to saying that his country had ATACM at its disposal and would “use them”.

Ukraine has been demanding for many months to be able to strike “in depth” military targets on Russian territory to disrupt the logistics of the Russian army which daily bombs its infrastructure and cities, causing the deaths of numerous civilians. Vladimir Putin, for his part, reacted on Tuesday by signing the decree formalizing his new nuclear doctrine, which broadens the possibility of using atomic weapons.

These strikes mark a “new phase” in the conflict and “Moscow will respond accordingly”for his part declared the Russian Foreign Minister. Sergei Lavrov also invites the West to read Russia's updated nuclear doctrine in full, without specifying further what he meant by that. These strikes mark a “new phase” in the conflict, he warned.