Ukraine struck Russia with American long-range missiles, officials say

Ukraine’s military used long-range U.S.-supplied missiles to strike Russia’s Bryansk region, according to officials in Moscow and multiple U.S. media outlets.

Senior American and Ukrainian officials confirmed that U.S.-manufactured Army Tactical Missile System, ATACMS, were used in the overnight strike, as reported by The New York Times.

Andrii Kovalenko, a member of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the attack struck storehouses with “artillery ammunition, including North Korean ammunition for their systems,” according to the NYT.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed there were “no casualties or destruction,” according to state-owned news agency TASS.

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden green-lighted Ukraine’s use of ATACMS on Sunday. The Russian establishment is weighing a response after months of warning the West not to let Ukraine use long-range weapons to hit targets on their territory.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine assumes the potential for a nuclear response in the event of a Ukrainian strike with Western-made non-nuclear missiles.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday’s attack signals that the U.S. “wants escalation.”

The use of American ATACMS initiates a “new phase of the western war against Russia,” and Russia will “react accordingly,” Lavrov said, without specifying what that meant.

Lavrov also said that he “[could] not guess” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine, but politicians like Trump, “who declare that they prefer peace to war,” deserve support.

This story is being updated.