Russia vows response to latest Ukraine ATACMS strikes
Published: 05:11 PM,Nov 26,2024 | EDITED : 09:11 PM,Nov 26,2024
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian drone strike, in Ternopil, Ukraine. — Reuters
MOSCOW: Moscow's military on Tuesday pledged a response to fresh Ukrainian air attacks inside Russia using US-supplied ATACMS missiles. Ukraine firing the long-range missiles into Russia for the first time last week prompted a furious reaction from Moscow. Russia's defence ministry on Tuesday said Ukraine had carried out fresh strikes -- on November 23 and 25 -- using ATACMS. 'Retaliatory actions are being prepared,' it said in a post on Telegram, without elaborating.
The United States gave Ukraine permission to use the weapons to hit Russian territory earlier this month after months of requests from Kyiv. In a rare admission, Russia said the fresh strikes had caused damage to military hardware and wounded some of its personnel on the ground. A strike on the Kursk Vostochny air base wounded two servicemen, the defence ministry said, while a strike on an air defence battery damaged a radar system and also caused 'casualties'. It said three of the five missiles fired in the first strike were shot down, while seven of the eight used in the second were destroyed.
The defence ministry also posted photos of what it said were the missile fragments, showing large casings with English-language inscriptions on the side. The strikes come with tensions having ratcheted up dramatically in the near three-year conflict over the last few weeks. Putin last week signed a decree lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, days before launching the nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile at Ukraine.
Ukraine struck a bus in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding at least seven others, Moscow-appointed officials said. An image shared by the region's Russian-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, showed a passenger bus surrounded by shattered glass and what appeared to be drops of blood. 'As a result of enemy shelling of Nova Kakhovka from 120-millimetre mortars, a passenger bus carrying civilians was hit,' Saldo said in a post on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Tuesday it was expelling a British diplomat who it accused of espionage and summoned London's ambassador to the foreign ministry in Moscow. The FSB security service said the diplomat appeared to have carried out 'intelligence and subversive work, threatening the security of the Russian Federation', state news agencies reported.
The development came hours after Russia confirmed it had arrested a British man captured fighting for Ukraine, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the state of the conflict, which began nearly three years ago. The FSB said the diplomat had 'deliberately provided false data when obtaining permission to enter our country, thus violating Russian law'. Footage broadcast by state media showed Britain's ambassador arriving at the foreign ministry in central Moscow after being summoned for talks, minutes after the expulsion was announced. London and Moscow have expelled several of each other's diplomats on spying allegations in recent years.
The FSB said the man expelled on Tuesday was a replacement for one of six British officials that Russia had expelled earlier this year, also on spying accusations. Relations between the two capitals have been repeatedly strained by alleged spy scandals. — AFP
The United States gave Ukraine permission to use the weapons to hit Russian territory earlier this month after months of requests from Kyiv. In a rare admission, Russia said the fresh strikes had caused damage to military hardware and wounded some of its personnel on the ground. A strike on the Kursk Vostochny air base wounded two servicemen, the defence ministry said, while a strike on an air defence battery damaged a radar system and also caused 'casualties'. It said three of the five missiles fired in the first strike were shot down, while seven of the eight used in the second were destroyed.
The defence ministry also posted photos of what it said were the missile fragments, showing large casings with English-language inscriptions on the side. The strikes come with tensions having ratcheted up dramatically in the near three-year conflict over the last few weeks. Putin last week signed a decree lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, days before launching the nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile at Ukraine.
Ukraine struck a bus in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding at least seven others, Moscow-appointed officials said. An image shared by the region's Russian-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, showed a passenger bus surrounded by shattered glass and what appeared to be drops of blood. 'As a result of enemy shelling of Nova Kakhovka from 120-millimetre mortars, a passenger bus carrying civilians was hit,' Saldo said in a post on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Tuesday it was expelling a British diplomat who it accused of espionage and summoned London's ambassador to the foreign ministry in Moscow. The FSB security service said the diplomat appeared to have carried out 'intelligence and subversive work, threatening the security of the Russian Federation', state news agencies reported.
The development came hours after Russia confirmed it had arrested a British man captured fighting for Ukraine, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the state of the conflict, which began nearly three years ago. The FSB said the diplomat had 'deliberately provided false data when obtaining permission to enter our country, thus violating Russian law'. Footage broadcast by state media showed Britain's ambassador arriving at the foreign ministry in central Moscow after being summoned for talks, minutes after the expulsion was announced. London and Moscow have expelled several of each other's diplomats on spying allegations in recent years.
The FSB said the man expelled on Tuesday was a replacement for one of six British officials that Russia had expelled earlier this year, also on spying accusations. Relations between the two capitals have been repeatedly strained by alleged spy scandals. — AFP