Kremlin warns of "new phase" of war after Ukraine launches US ATACMS at Bryansk
- 20 November, 06:30
Kremlin has said Ukraine’s use of US-made ATACMS long-range missile to strike Russia marks a “new phase” of Western war against Russia, and accused Washington of helping Kyiv operate these missiles.
Ukraine struck an ammunition depot in Russia’s Bryansk region with the Army Tactical Missile System, ATACMS, on Monday just a day after US President Joe Biden greelighted Kyiv’s use of these weapons in Russian territory.
“This is, of course, a signal that they want to escalate,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday while addressing a Group of 20 (G20) new conference, adding that Moscow will consider this attack “as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia. And we will react accordingly.” Furthermore, Lavrov reminded Vladimir Putin’s recent decision to updated Russia’s nuclear weapon that lowered the threshold of the use of nuclear weapons. "I hope that they will read this doctrine... in its entirety," Lavrov said.
Ukrainian officials confirmed that the army used ATACMS in the attack on Bryansk in Russia. Commenting on the Bryansk attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Zelenskyy said Kyiv now had US-ATACMS systems as well as its own long-range capabilities, and would use all of them. Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian leader added that Kyiv was working with all partners to win their support for longer-range strikes.
