Moscow vows to respond to new Ukrainian US missile strikes | War in Ukraine

Russia on Tuesday promised a “response” to two new Ukrainian strikes carried out using American ATACMS missiles against its territory in recent days, after President Vladimir Putin’s threat 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.

In this very tense context, the ambassadors of theI’LL TAKE reaffirmed their support for kyiv on Tuesday by denouncing last week’s Russian firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile as a vain attempt tointimidation.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian forces struck installations in the Russian border region of Kursk, partially occupied by the Ukrainian army since August.

The strikes 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.

The Ministry recognized, a rare occurrence, that several missiles had reached their targets and reports two Russian soldiers injured and a radar damaged by these shots.

According to him, Russian anti-aircraft defenses shot down three of the five ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 km, fired during the November 23 attack, and seven of the eight projectiles fired on November 25 suffered the same fate.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is monitoring the situation and preparing a responsehe said in a statement, accompanying his message with photos appearing to show missile debris, the authenticity of which cannot be independently confirmed.

The conflict takes a global charactersays Putin

Ukraine began using long-range ATACMS missiles in Russia on November 19, as well as Storm Shadow British-made two days later, after obtaining the green light from Western allies, a response to the deployment of North Korean forces on Russia’s 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 the West with strikes. military installations of countries that authorize the use of their weapons against our installations.

Ukraine has asked its Western allies to provide it with new, latest-generation air defense systems, while Moscow has assured that these missiles, called Orechnik (which means hazelin Russian), are impossible to intercept.

The Ukrainians have identified some of the new systems that would allow them to counter them, said a diplomat from theI’LL TAKEat the end of this meeting.

The Kremlin, through its spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, for its part brushed aside the scope of the meeting, considering that it was unlikely that major decisions will be made at ambassadorial level.

At the same time, Moscow announced on Tuesday that it would expel a British diplomat accused of espionage, which London strongly rejected, and sanction around ten ministers in Keir Starmer’s government.

European fear of an American withdrawal

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, according to Washington, should fight Soon Ukrainian forces.

Military aid from Washington is crucial for Ukraine, whose exhausted army has been retreating for months in the face of 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).

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 critical infrastructure without causing any casualties, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Targeted energy sites

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.

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

In kyiv, journalists from theAFP 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.

Two people were killed in an attack on a gas station, Volodymyr Zelensky also announced in his daily address.

Finally, in the area under Russian control, at least 4 people were killed and 17 others injured on Tuesday in Nova Kakhovka, in the occupied part of the southern region of Kherson, announced the authorities installed by Russia.