Russia vows retaliation against Ukraine over use of US missiles

AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS

These actions by the Kiev regime, supported by its Western tutors, will be subject to retaliation, the Russian military warned.

Russia vowed today to retaliate against Ukraine after it fired US ATACMS missiles the previous day, a type of attack that the Kremlin considers a red line in the conflict.

"These actions by the Kiev regime, supported by its Western tutors, will be subject to retaliation," the Russian military warned in a statement.

In recent weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he would order his military to target central Kiev in response to Ukrainian attacks with US ATACMS or British Storm Shadow missiles, but has so far not done so.

Earlier today, the Russian military said that during that attack the previous day, it had intercepted eight ATACMS missiles aimed at the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, and 72 drones.

The Russian military did not specify whether there were any casualties or material damage in the attack.

In November, the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden approved the use of these missiles by Kiev after long opposition, responding to reports of the arrival of North Korean troops to support the Russians.

Since then, Kiev has carried out several attacks using these long-range missiles, as well as British Storm Shadow missiles.

Russia responded by firing its experimental hypersonic weapon "Orezhnik" for the first time and vowed to respond any time Ukraine launches an attack on Russian territory with such weapons.

Incoming US President Donald Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, said in mid-December that he opposed the Ukrainian military's use of US ATACMS missiles, believing that it leads to an intensification and escalation of the conflict.

Two people were wounded separately near the border with Ukraine in a Ukrainian drone strike on the town of Shebekino, said the governor of the Russian Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

At least ten people were wounded in the Ukrainian strike on the front line in the city of Gorlivka, in territory occupied by Moscow in eastern Ukraine, Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.

To the north, the Russian military said it had captured the small town of Nadya in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, which it annexed in 2022 and controls almost entirely.

Four people were wounded in a Russian drone strike in southern Ukraine, said Roman Mrochko, the head of the city’s military administration in the large city of Kherson.