Ukraine said Tuesday it hit ammunition warehouses in the Bryansk region of Russia in a predawn strike, an attack the warring sides said for the first time involved the deployment of long-range U.S.-supplied ballistic missiles.
The two sides disputed the effectiveness of the attack, which came two days after it was reported that President Joe Biden had reversed U.S. policy and approved use of the longer-range missiles as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached the 1,000-day mark.
Two U.S. officials confirmed to VOA on Tuesday that the policy prohibiting Ukrainians' use of U.S.-provided long-range weapons to hit military targets deep inside Russia "has changed." Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh on Monday declined to confirm the change, while adding that Moscow has no grounds for any complaints.
"What's adding fuel to the fire is the fact that DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] soldiers are now entering a fight,” Singh said, in response to a question from VOA.
The Russian defense ministry said in a statement, “Ukraine’s armed forces last night struck a facility in the Bryansk region” with six U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System rockets, or ATACMS, but its forces shot down five of them and damaged the sixth. It said falling fragments from the exploding rockets caused a fire at the military facility, but there were no casualties.
Ukraine’s military general staff said in a post on Facebook that its forces had “caused fire damage” to “warehouses with ammunition for the army of the Russian occupiers” in Bryansk, about 100 kilometers from Ukraine’s border.
The attack caused “12 secondary explosions and detonations in the area of the target,” the statement said, while not specifying that ATACMS had been used. But a Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations, confirmed the use of the American weapons system.
The initial target using the long-range missile system was far short of the 300-kilometer range of the missile system. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had long sought U.S. approval of its use to launch attacks on military sites deep inside Russia. Until Sunday, though, Biden had resisted for fear of escalating tensions in the nearly three-year conflict between Moscow and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, four of whose member countries border Russia.
Biden reportedly reversed his position after North Korea sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight alongside Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region that Ukraine captured in August and still holds.
Biden leaves office in two months, and it is not clear what stance President-elect Donald Trump might adopt. Trump has been a skeptic of continued U.S. military support for Ukraine, claiming he would end the war before he even takes office; however, Trump has not offered any public plan on how he would do so.
With Ukraine now having the ability to fire the long-range missiles into Russia, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a revised nuclear doctrine stating that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power is considered a joint attack and could trigger a nuclear response.
When Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked if the revised doctrine was issued in response to the U.S. missile authorization, he said it was put forth “in a timely manner” and that Putin wanted it updated to be “in line with the current situation.”
In response, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said the United States was not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it is updating its nuclear doctrine since it had been signaling its intent to do so for several weeks. The spokesperson said the U.S. sees no need to change its posture.
“This is more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia, which we have seen for the past two years,” the spokesperson said.
The Russian doctrine states nuclear weapons could be used in the case of a massive air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles.
It says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation,” a definition that would fit the Ukraine-U.S. alliance.
It doesn’t specify whether such an attack would definitely be met with a nuclear response.
Peskov said the aim of the updated policy was to make potential enemies understand the inevitability of retaliation for an attack on Russia or its allies.
It also states that Russia could use nuclear weapons if another country attacks Belarus, a Moscow ally.
1,000 days of fighting
Russia and Ukraine issued statements about the 1,000th day of the war, with both vowing that they would continue fighting each other.
The Kremlin said Western support for Kyiv would have no impact on the military campaign.
"The military operation against Kyiv continues," Peskov said, adding that Western aid "cannot affect the outcome of our operation. It continues and will be completed."
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it would continue to resist the Russian invasion, which began in February 2022.
"Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
On the battlefront in Ukraine, an overnight Russian drone attack in the northeastern Sumy region killed eight people, including one child, Ukrainian officials said.
The attack on a residential building in the border town of Hlukhiv also wounded 12 people, including two children, Ukraine's national police force said on Telegram. The strike was part of one of the largest Russian drone and missile attacks in months.
Ukraine's air force said on Tuesday it shot down 51 out of 87 drones launched by Russia overnight.
Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, Andrii Sybiha, said at a U.N. Security Council meeting that "Russia must be forced to negotiate,” calling the attack “Russia’s response to visits by certain officials and to specific phone conversations” that have called for peace.
“That response was one of the most massive strikes on our territory. Therefore, the answer must be peace through strength,” he added.
Tear gas detected near front line
Also on Tuesday, Ukraine urged action after the international chemical weapons watchdog said banned CS riot control gas, also known as tear gas, had been found in Ukrainian soil samples from the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russia has not reacted to the report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which did not assign blame for the chemical.
The Chemical Weapons Convention strictly bans the use of riot control agents including CS outside riot control situations when it is used as "a method of warfare,” Agence France-Presse reported.
CS gas causes irritation to the lungs, skin and eyes.
Both sides have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the conflict, and Ukraine’s Western allies have claimed Moscow has employed banned weapons.
“Russia's use of banned chemicals on the battlefield once again demonstrates Russia's chronic disregard for international law," a statement from Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
The OPCW stressed, however, that the report did "not seek to identify the source or origin of the toxic chemical."
Carla Babb, Jeff Seldin and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
