The Russian army claimed on Saturday to have intercepted eight American ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine against its territory, a type of attack presented by Moscow as a red line in the conflict. “Air defense assets shot down eight US-made ATACMS operational tactical missiles and 72 drones”indicated the Russian army, which however did not specify whether this new Ukrainian attack had caused casualties and caused material damage.
The administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden authorized the use of such missiles by kyiv in November, after having long opposed it, following the deployment, according to the West and Ukraine, of thousands of northern troops. -Koreans in support of Russian soldiers. Since then, kyiv has carried out several series of attacks using these long-range ATACMS missiles, as well as British Storm Shadows. Russia responded by firing for the first time an experimental hypersonic weapon called “Oreshnik”promising “an answer” with each Ukrainian attack of this type against its territory.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin especially threatened to strike downtown kyiv in retaliation, without carrying out his words at this stage. American President-elect Donald Trump, whose return to the White House is scheduled for January 20, said in mid-December “strongly opposed” the use by the Ukrainian army of American ATACMS missiles, evoking a “intensification” and one “aggravation” of the conflict.
Near the border with Ukraine, two people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in the town of Chebekino, according to the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov. On the front, a Ukrainian strike left at least ten injured in the town of Gorlivka, in territory occupied by Moscow in eastern Ukraine, according to its mayor Ivan Prikhodko. Further north, the Russian army claimed on Saturday the capture of the small town of Nadiïa in the Ukrainian region of Lugansk, which it annexed in 2022 and which it controls almost entirely. Finally, four people were injured in a Russian drone attack in the South, according to the head of the municipal military administration of the large city of Kherson, Roman Mrochko.