Russia claimed on Tuesday that Ukraine fired six U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) into Russian territory after President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to fire U.S.-supplied long-range missiles deeper into Russian territory.
According to Fox News, Russia claimed that it shot down five of the six U.S.-supplied missiles and damaged the sixth missile. Russia also said that the debris from the missiles landed near a Russian military facility but that the long-range missile attack did not cause any casualties and only resulted in a small fire.
Fox News reported that while Ukraine did not confirm the launch of ATACMS on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials did confirm an attack against a Russian military facility in the Bryansk region, which is the same region Russia claimed that the long-range missiles were destroyed in.
Tuesday’s reported missile attack comes just two days after Biden authorized Ukraine to launch U.S.-supplied long-range missiles into Russian territory.
According to Fox News, a U.S. official explained that Biden’s authorization was given after Russia’s deployment of roughly 10,000 North Korean soldiers in its fight against Ukraine in the Kursk region. Another U.S. official told the outlet that it was not yet clear whether Biden would allow Ukraine to launch U.S.-supplied missiles against other regions in Russia.
READ MORE: Biden allows Ukraine to use long-range missiles against Russian territory: Report
According to The Associated Press, Biden’s authorization of long-range Ukrainian strikes against Russia has been met with pushback from Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman. Peskov said, “It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps, and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict.”
The Associated Press also reported that Russian United Nations Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told world leaders during a United Nations Security Council meeting that Russia is “astounded” that Britain and France were “eager to play into the hands of the exiting administration and are dragging not just their countries but the entire Europe into large-scale escalation with drastic consequences” following a report that Britain and France had also authorized Ukraine to launch SCALP/Storm Shadow missile strikes against Russia.
In addition to expressing outrage against the United States, Britain, and France, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for Russia to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike, according to Reuters. The outlet reported that Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine on Tuesday to include a potential nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack against Russia or Belarus that “created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity.”
