While Ukraine has not yet commented, US officials confirmed that Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) were used in the Tuesday attacks, according to the BBC. Russia's defense ministry said the strike targeted a region bordering northern Ukraine and that five missiles were shot down. It said that one missile caused damage, starting a fire at a military facility.
However, two US officials indicated that Russia had only intercepted two out of the eight total missiles that were fired by Ukraine. Both reports remain unverified.
The Kremlin had warned the US that allowing this type of attack would escalate tensions with Russia on Monday, shortly after The Biden-Harris admin granted Ukraine permission.
"It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps, and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, per the Associated Press.
In response to the strike, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stated: "That Atacms was used repeatedly overnight against Bryansk Region is of course a signal that they [the US] want escalation ... And without the Americans, use of these high-tech missiles, as Putin has said many times, is impossible."
He said Russia would "proceed from the understanding" that the missiles were operated by "American military experts," adding, "We will be taking this as a renewed face of the western war against Russia and we will react accordingly."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not confirm or deny the attack in a news conference Tuesday, but said, “Ukraine has long-range capabilities. Ukraine has long-range drones of its own production. We now have a long ‘Neptune’ (Ukrainian cruise missiles) and not just one. And now we have ATACMS. And we will use all of this," CNN reported.
