Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that long-range missiles supplied to Ukraine by the US and the UK have been used against targets within the internationally-recognized territory of Russia.
A volley of six US-made ATACMS rockets was launched at Bryansk Region on Tuesday, while a number of British-made Storm Shadow missiles were fired at Kursk Region on Wednesday, the president said.
“From that moment, the Ukraine conflict previously provoked by the West acquired elements of a global nature, just as we warned more than once,” Putin said on Thursday, in a televised address to the nation.
The US and its NATO allies have previously stated they would allow Kiev to use their weapons, Putin said, noting again that such attacks could not take place without the participation of Western military personnel.
The attack on the munitions depot in Bryansk was intercepted by air defenses, causing no casualties and only minor property damage. The second strike, on a military command post in Kursk, resulted in deaths and injuries among the security and support personnel, Putin said. However, the command staff was unharmed and continued to manage the expulsion of Ukrainian invaders from that region of Russia, he added.
In response to these attacks, Russia struck a Ukrainian military-industrial site in Dnepropetrovsk using a new, non-nuclear hypersonic missile dubbed ‘Oresshnik’ (Hazel), Putin revealed.
The use of Western-supplied missiles is not going to change the situation on the ground, where Russian forces are advancing all along the front line and intend to achieve all their objectives, the president concluded.