Ukraine Carries Out First Strike With US Missiles in Russia
Henry Meyer and Aliaksandr Kudrytski
5 min read
(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian forces carried out their first strike on a border region in Russia using Western-supplied missiles as President Vladimir Putin approved an updated nuclear doctrine expanding the conditions for using atomic weapons.
Ukraine deployed ATACMS missiles to strike a military facility in the western Bryansk region, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram. It was the first known attack following the decision by President Joe Biden’s administration to approve Kyiv’s limited use of the weapons to hit targets inside Russia, two months before Donald Trump takes over promising to quickly end the war.
Ukraine’s General Staff earlier confirmed a strike on a warehouse in the city of Karachev, detonating ammunition stored at the site some 115 kilometers (71 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Neither the General Staff nor Ukraine’s Defense Ministry would comment on what weapons were used, saying the information is classified. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces shot down five missiles and damaged one, and no casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, Putin signed a decree allowing Russia to fire nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack on its soil that threatens its sovereignty, including by drones. Russia will view aggression against itself or its allies by a non-nuclear state backed by a nuclear power as a joint attack, the document posted online said. That follows a pledge Putin made in September to revise the doctrine.
The moves by both Ukraine and Russia appeared to leave investors rattled and rushing to buy the safest assets. Government bonds and traditional haven currencies including the Japanese yen and Swiss franc surged.
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The yield on US Treasuries fell at least six to seven basis points across the curve. The yen climbed 0.8% against the dollar, while the franc rose to strongest level against the euro since August.
With the war reaching its 1,000th day and neither side able to claim a decisive advantage on the battlefield, there’s an increasing recognition among Kyiv’s allies that Zelenskiy will have to compromise with Putin to stop the fighting. While Trump has yet to say how he’ll fulfill promises to end the war, his return to office raises the possibility of drastic cuts in US support and has prompted both sides to try to strengthen their hand should they be compelled to the negotiating table.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday confirmed that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, would consider an attack by Kyiv using Western missiles as a strike by a non-nuclear state supported by a nuclear power.
“The Russian Federation retains the right to use nuclear weapons in the case of aggression using conventional weapons against it” that poses a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity, Peskov said, according to the state-run Tass news service.
The Russian leader has warned the US and its European allies against allowing Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia using Western long-range high-precision weapons, saying this would bring them into direct conflict with his country.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday from the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro that Kyiv’s ATACMS missiles strike signals that the West wants escalation. “As Putin has repeatedly said, it’s impossible to use these high-tech missiles without the Americans.”
‘Waiting for a Miracle’
Ukraine has been firing its home-made drones deep into Russia for months, but the US weapons are more destructive. The Russian Foreign Ministry in June summoned the US ambassador over what it said was a Ukrainian ATACMS missile attack in Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city. Russia seized Crimea in 2014.
Officials in Ukraine have said they need the capability to hit the air bases and planes Russia uses for glide-bomb and missile attacks. Over the weekend, Russia launched one of its largest missile and drone strikes since the war began, which disrupted power and water supplies.
The change in the administration’s stance was in part due to North Korea’s decision to send more than 10,000 troops to Kursk as part of a deepening alliance with Moscow. Russian forces with Pyongyang’s help have been trying to dislodge Ukrainian forces from that region after they captured some areas in a surprise incursion earlier this year.
The effect of the US missiles may ultimately be limited. The fighting in Kursk region centers on infantry, and Ukraine is unlikely to use the ATACMS to target small infantry formations, said Konrad Muzyka, a Poland-based defense analyst. Furthermore, “we don’t know whether the US provided Ukrainians with additional missiles.” Russia has also probably moved aircraft beyond the ATACMS range in anticipation of the decision, he said.
Zelenskiy addressed his country’s parliament Tuesday, urging national unity while reiterating that Ukraine won’t give up rights to its territory.
“While the whole world is waiting for a miracle from Trump, you and I have to plow away,” Zelenskiy told lawmakers in the assembly in Kyiv. He didn’t mention the overnight strikes or using US-supplied missiles.
The strike on Russia’s Bryansk region comes as leaders of the Group of 20 nations meet in Brazil, where neither Zelenskiy nor Putin are in attendance.
--With assistance from Maxim Edwards.
(Updates with more details from Russian statement in the second paragraph, and addition comment and background throughout.)
