Ukraine hits Russia with US ATACMS missiles for first time in ongoing war

Ukraine took advantage of recently granted authorization by the departing Biden administration on the 1,000th day of the war to launch an attack on Russian territory Tuesday using US ATACMS missiles.

The missiles were aimed at a military installation in the Bryansk area, and Russia claimed that five of the six were intercepted by its forces. It stated that one's debris struck the building, igniting a fire that was quickly extinguished and resulted in no damage or casualties.

In an attack that resulted in secondary explosions, Ukraine claimed to have hit a Russian weapons depot approximately 110 kilometers (70 miles) inside Russia.

Although a Ukrainian official source and a US official later confirmed that the Ukrainian military had used ATACMS, the Ukrainian military did not publicly identify the weapons it had used.

Just this week, President Joe Biden approved Ukraine's use of the ATACMS, the longest-range missiles Washington has provided, for interior Russian attacks.

Their possible use, according to Moscow, would escalate the conflict to the point where Washington would be directly involved in fighting it and would be subject to retaliation.

With exhausted troops at the front, Kyiv under siege from airstrikes, a fifth of Ukrainian territory in Moscow's hands, and uncertainty about the future of Western support as Donald Trump returns to the White House, the attack occurred as Ukraine marked 1,000 days of war.

According to military analysts, Ukraine can use the US missiles to strike targets at such a depth in Russia as a negotiating chip to protect a portion of Russian territory it has taken, but it is unlikely to have a dec.