Moscow
Reuters
—
The Russian military announced on Tuesday that it would retaliate against Ukraine after kyiv attacked Russian regions by firing six American-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and launching one of the most major drone attacks to date.
After Ukraine first launched ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles at Russia last year, Moscow responded on November 21 by launching a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as the “Oreshnik », or Hazel Tree, on Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down all Western missiles fired by Ukraine at the Bryansk region, as well as 146 drones outside the war zone. It indicated that two more Storm Shadows had been shot down over the Black Sea.
“The actions of the kyiv regime, supported by its Western conservatives, will not go unanswered,” the Defense Ministry said.
Ukraine’s General Staff said it struck up to 1,100 km deep inside Russia, targeting oil storage, refining, chemical and munitions factories in the Bryansk, Saratov, Tula and Tatarstan.
kyiv did not specify how it struck the targets, but said drone and missile forces were among the units involved in the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in November that the war in Ukraine was escalating into a global conflict after the United States and Britain for the first time allowed Ukraine to launch its missiles deep into the Russia.
President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to quickly end the war, calling into question Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and sparked the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis .
The drone attack on Russia was one of the largest on record.
Roman Busargin, governor of the Saratov region, about 720 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, said the cities of Saratov and Engels, located on opposite banks of the Volga, had been subjected to a massive drone attack and that two industrial sites had been damaged. sites. Schools have moved to remote learning, he said.
Ukraine attacked the same region last week and claimed to have hit an oil depot serving as an air base for Russian nuclear bombers, causing a huge fire that took five days to put out.
Ukraine’s General Staff said it struck the Kristall factory oil storage facility in Engels, in an operation carried out by Ukrainian drone units and military intelligence.
The General Staff also said it had struck the Bryansk chemical plant, which it said produced artillery munitions, multiple rocket launch systems, aviation munitions, technical munitions and components for cruise missiles.
The drone attack hit an ammunition storage facility containing guided bombs and missiles at the Engels airbase in Russia’s Saratov region as well as other targets, a Ukrainian security service source said Tuesday .
The General Staff said the attacks on the Saratov oil refinery and the Kazanorgsintez plant sparked fires.