Ukraine launched its first deep ATACMS strike on Russia after getting US approval

Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, were fired during joint training between the United States and South Korea. 

Ukraine fired US-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles into Russia for the first time, according to multiple reports citing US and Ukrainian officials. The attack could mark a significant escalation in the war.

The strikes came shortly after President Joe Biden authorized the use of the powerful missiles by Ukraine, a major change in long-held US policy.

Russia’s defense ministry said five Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, were shot down early Tuesday morning local time, adding that missile fragments caused a fire at a military facility in the country’s western Bryansk region.

There were no injuries or substantial damage, Russia’s defense ministry said.

Ukrainian media also reported on the strikes, with a defense source telling RBC-Ukraine that ATACMS had been used in a successful attack on a military facility in Bryansk.

Ukraine’s military said that it “inflicted fire damage” at an arsenal in Bryansk, with 12 secondary explosions recorded. Kyiv said it destroyed Russian warehouses with ammunition, although it did not specify what weapon it used in the strikes.

In recent months, Ukraine has relied heavily on domestically produced long-range attack drones to strike ammunition depots and other sensitive military targets inside Russia since it had been restricted from using Western missiles to do the job.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin approved an update to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, widening the scenarios in which it would consider a strike. The move seemed a direct response to US approval for Ukraine to use ATACMS in strikes on Russian territory.

Russia has long warned the West against allowing Ukraine to use the weapons in attacks on its territory, and the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday said any such strikes would result in “an appropriate and tangible” response.

Ukraine has used ATACMS, which have a maximum range of around 190 miles, as well as French and UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles in strikes on Russia-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and on the Crimean peninsula. But until Tuesday, Ukraine had not used any of these long-range Western missiles to strike Russia itself.

Biden had long been concerned that lifting the restrictions on using long-range weapons in attacks on Russian territory could escalate the conflict.

His decision to ease the restrictions comes just months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump, a skeptic of US support for Ukraine, may decide to reverse the order.

The policy shift comes as Moscow has pulled thousands of North Korean troops to help it drive Ukrainian forces out of the territory they occupy in Russia’s Kursk region.

Jon Finer, the US deputy national security advisor, said Monday that the US had made it “clear to the Russians that we would respond” to recent escalations, referring to North Korea’s involvement.

Meanwhile, Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and cities, including a massive missile and drone barrage over the weekend.