Ukraine hits Russia with US ATACMS missiles for first time on war’s 1,000th day
By Tom Balmforth and Olena Harmash
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine used U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden on the war’s 1,000th day.
Russia said its forces shot down five of six missiles fired at a military facility in the Bryansk region. Debris of one hit the facility, starting a fire that was swiftly put out and caused no casualties or damage, it said.
Ukraine said it struck a Russian arms depot about 110 km (70 miles) inside Russia, an attack that caused secondary explosions. Ukraine’s military did not publicly specify the weapons used, but a Ukrainian government source and a U.S. official confirmed it had used ATACMS.
A U.S. official said Russia intercepted two of eight missiles and that the strike was at an ammunition supply point.
Biden gave approval this week for Ukraine to use ATACMS, the longest-range missiles Washington has supplied, for such attacks inside Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the use of ATACMS was a clear signal the West wanted to escalate the conflict.
Moscow has said such weapons cannot be launched without direct U.S. operational support and their use would make Washington a direct combatant in the war, prompting Russian retaliation.
The attacks came as Ukraine marked 1,000 days of war, with a fifth of its territory in Russian hands and doubts about the future of Western support as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump heads back to the White House.
Russia’s Defence Ministry also said air defence units destroyed 42 Ukrainian drones in at least eight southern and central regions between 9 p.m. and 11.55 p.m. (1800 to 2055 GMT) on Tuesday, including 32 in Bryansk region.
Ukraine has long deployed drones to hit targets deep inside Russian territory, including airfields and sites associated with energy. But the use of dozens dispatched over a short period of time was unusual.
At the United Nations in New York, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, read a statement from his country and 42 others and the European Union, rejecting Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of Ukrainian territory and demanding immediate withdrawal.
“One thousand days is a tragic reminder of the need to remain resolute in ensuring … that international law prevails, not just in Ukraine, but wherever it is challenged,” he said.
Military experts say using the U.S. missiles can help Ukraine defend a pocket of captured Russian territory in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip, but was not likely to have a decisive impact on the 33-month-old war, in part as the move comes far too late.
The missile’s range of up to 300 km is much shorter than some that Moscow has used to strike Ukraine, including its hypersonic Kinzhal weapon with a reported range of up to 2,000 km.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine that appeared intended as a warning to Washington. It lowers the threshold under which Russia might use atomic weapons to include responding to attacks that threaten its territorial integrity.
Washington said the update to the nuclear doctrine was no surprise and rejected “more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia”.
Zelenskiy said the step showed Putin had no interest in peace: “Especially on this day … they presented (a) nuclear weapons strategy. Why? They didn’t present (a) peace strategy. Did you hear it? … Putin wants war.”
The Pentagon said the U.S. State Department has approved another potential $100 million sale of military equipment and services to Ukraine, while Denmark said it was making a new donation of about $138 million for development of Ukraine’s arms industry.
TRUMP CRITICISMS OF AID
Trump has criticised the scale of U.S. aid to Kyiv and said he will end the war quickly, without saying how. Both sides appear to anticipate his return in two months will be accompanied by a push for peace talks, which are not known to have taken place since the war’s early months.
The warring sides have been escalating to try to secure a stronger position at any negotiations. Zelenskiy says Kyiv must do everything for the war to end 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. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator,” he told parliament.
Dozens of civilians and soldiers gathered for a moment’s silence at a candle-lit commemoration in the evening in Kyiv. Some sobbed.
“My life has been turned upside down. There is no life for me. I only want victory and to return home. I am grateful to all the men defending our country,” said Yuliia, from the city of Mariupol which was captured by Russia in 2022.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric cited data from the UN Human Rights Office that more than 12,000 civilians had been killed and nearly 27,000 injured in Ukraine over the past 1,000 days, with more than 2,400 child casualties.
Over six million Ukrainians live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Putin ordered the invasion that began Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two.
Military losses are huge, although casualty figures remain secret. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports say hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed on each side.
In the first year after the invasion, Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured territory. Since then, relentless trench warfare has ground eastern Ukrainian cities to dust.
In a move described in the West as an escalation, Russia has deployed 11,000 North Korean troops, some of whom Kyiv says have clashed with Ukrainian forces in Kursk. Zelenskiy said Pyongyang could send 100,000 soldiers.
Russia for its part continues to advance slowly in eastern Ukraine, and said it captured another settlement on Tuesday.
With winter setting in, Moscow on Sunday renewed its aerial assault on Ukraine’s power system, launching the biggest barrage since August.
There has been no public narrowing of negotiating positions. Kyiv demands a full Russian withdrawal from all occupied territory and Western security guarantees comparable to membership in NATO’s mutual defence treaty to prevent future Russian attacks.
Moscow says Ukraine must drop all ambitions to join NATO and withdraw all troops from provinces Russia says it has annexed since its invasion.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth, Olena Harmash, Anna Voitenko and Moscow bureau; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington and Ron Popeski, Oleskandr Kozhukhar and Lidia Kelly; Writing by David Brunnstrom, Tom Balmforth and Peter Graff; Editing by David Gregorio and Stephen Coates)
