Zhytomyr, Ukraine — Exactly 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia’s defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Tuesday of firing six U.S.-made and -supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian region of Bryansk. If confirmed, it could be the first time Ukrainian troops had taken advantage of President Biden easing restrictions over the weekend on Ukraine’s use of the U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deeper inside Russian territory.
Ukraine’s military said it hit a Russian weapons depot in Bryansk overnight, but it didn’t say what weapons were used. U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday that U.S.-supplied ATACMS had been used on targets inside Russia.
In a statement carried by state media, Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military had shot down five ATACMS fired by Ukraine and damaged another. The reports said fragments had fallen at or near a military facility and that some of the debris had ignited a fire, but the ministry said there was no damage or casualties.
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The strike in Bryansk came hours after another Ukrainian residential neighborhood was left charred and smoking. Ukrainian officials said 10 people were killed Monday in a Russian drone and missile attack on the southern city of Odesa.
The strike came a day after another strike on the power grid in Odesa, which also destroyed several homes.
With Mr. Biden finally granting Ukraine the long-sought permission to fire ATACMS — which have a range of about 190 miles — deeper into Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces had a new option to retaliate for the latest carnage.
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Russia, however, has accused the U.S. of adding fuel to the fire.
In September, President Vladimir Putin warned that if the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use ATACMS inside his country, it would mean the U.S. and its NATO allies were at war with Russia.
Putin has yet to respond directly to Mr. Biden’s weekend decision, but lawmakers in Moscow fumed over the move on Monday, including a senator who called it “a very big step toward the beginning of the third world war.”
Neither side has confirmed its death tolls during the war, but Ukraine’s military has paid a steep price for trying to defend the country from the invasion, with around 70,000 troops believed to have been killed. More than 100,000 soldiers from Russia — a country with a population more than three times larger than Ukraine’s — have been killed, according to U.S. officials.
Col. Maksym Balagura, a special forces commander in Ukraine’s state border guard, acknowledged the vast size discrepancy when asked by CBS News if his country was short on manpower, saying it “isn’t possible to compare Russia and Ukraine… Their country is 10 times the size of ours, and of course they have more manpower.”
But with the grueling ground and air war showing no signs of letting up, Russia’s military has already been bolstered by more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers, according to Ukrainian, South Korean and U.S. officials.
Zelenskyy warned Tuesday that the North Korean contingent supporting Russia’s forces could grow to 100,000, as the two Western adversaries deepen their security ties.
contributed to this report.
