Russia says Ukraine fired US-made tactical missiles at military facility in Bryansk border region
A file photo of a Russian military facility. (AP)
In short:
Russia's Defence Ministry claims Ukraine fired six US-made tactical missiles known as ATACMS at a military facility in the Bryansk border region on Tuesday.
The ministry says its forces shot down five of the missiles and damaged another, adding that no casualties were recorded.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine claimed it hit a military weapons depot in Bryansk in the middle of the night, though it didn't specify what weapons it used.
Ukraine has fired six US-made missiles at a military facility in Russia's Bryansk border region, the Russian defence ministry says, on the 1,000th day since Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement published by Russian news agencies, the ministry said the military shot down five of the missiles and damaged another one.
Fragments from the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, fell on the territory of an unspecified military facility, sparking a fire, but no damage or casualties were recorded, the ministry said.
Russia's claims have not been independently verified and Ukraine did not immediately confirm the use of ATACMs in a strike on Russia's Bryansk region.
If confirmed, it would mark the first time long-range American-supplied missiles have been used on targets on Russian soil.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine claimed it hit a military weapons depot in Bryansk in the middle of the night, local time, though it didn't specify what weapons it used.
The Ukrainian General Staff said multiple explosions and detonations were heard in the targeted area.
"The destruction of ammunition depots for the Russian occupying forces, aimed at ending Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, will continue," they said in a statement.
Ukraine marks 1,000 days since invasion
The strike came a day after Washington lifted restrictions on Ukraine using US-made long-range missiles to strike Russia.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the US by signing a revised doctrine to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons.
The updated doctrine allows Russia to consider a nuclear strike if faced by aggression "with the use of conventional weapons".
The strikes inside Russia coincided with the 1,000th day since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Marking the anniversary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would have to do everything to ensure the war ended diplomatically next year.
"At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will prevail. Whether us over the enemy, or the enemy over us Ukrainians … and Europeans," Mr Zelenskyy said.
"And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator."
A Russian drone strike in Ukraine's northern Sumy region hit an educational facility in Hlukhiv on the same day. (AP: Ukrainian Emergency Service)
In Kyiv, a third Russian strike in three days on a civilian residential area killed at least 12 people on Monday, including a child, according to local officials.
The strike by a Shahed drone in the northern Sumy region hit a dormitory of an educational facility in the town of Hlukhiv and injured 11 others, including two children, authorities said.
The drone strike came after another Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area in Sumy on Sunday, killing 11 people and injuring 84 other.
On Monday, a Russian missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43.
AP/AFP/Reuters