Ukraine fires first US longrange missiles into Russia

Moscow upgrades its nuclear threat after ATACMS attack

- CHRIS STEVENSON STEFFIE BANATVALA

Ukraine has fired US-supplied long-range missiles into Russia for the first time since Joe Biden lifted restrictions on their use with Moscow warning that it would respond "accordingly" as Vladimir Putin lowered the bar for the Kremlin to launch an attack using nuclear weapons.

Ukraine used the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) in a strike on Russia’s Bryansk region, about 80 miles (130km) from the border.

Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine now states that a conventional attack by any nation supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on Russia. It also states that an attack using conventional missiles, drones or other kinds of aircraft could justify the response.

Downing Street condemned the change as the “latest example of irresponsibility” from the “depraved Russian government”.

Russia has been planning to update its nuclear doctrine for months, but the timing of Mr Putin’s signature on the changes signals a significant escalation in the war, coming in the wake of Mr Biden’s decision to allow Kyiv to conduct strikes inside Russia with the 190-mile range ATACMS.

Moscow said Ukraine had fired six ATACMS. US officials told American media the ATACMS had been used to hit an ammunition warehouse in Bryansk, which sits northwest of Kursk, the region on which a Ukrainian assault has been underway since the summer.

Ukraine’s military said it had struck a Russian arms depot in an attack that caused multiple secondary explosions. It did not publicly specify what weapons it had used but an affiliated Telegram channel posted a video that it said showed USsupplied ATACMS missiles being fired from an undisclosed location in Ukraine.