Russia vowed to retaliate on Saturday after it accused Ukraine of firing a US-supplied ATACMS missile into the Belgorod border region yesterday.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden last year authorized Kiev to use long-range weapons against Russia, which the Kremlin condemned as a serious escalation of the nearly three-year-old conflict.
“On January 3, an attempted missile attack using US-made ATACMS operational tactical missiles was carried out from the territory of Ukraine on the Belgorod region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“The actions of the Kiev government, which is backed by Western custodians, will be retaliated against,” he added, adding that all the missiles had been shot down.
The ministry earlier said that air defense shot down a total of eight ATACMS missiles, without specifying when or where.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last year threatened to launch a hypersonic ballistic missile attack on central Kiev if Ukraine continued to attack Russian territory with long-range Western weapons.
US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview last month that he was “very strongly” against Ukraine’s use of weapons, which he said were “escalating” the conflict.
Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of deadly attacks on civilians since the start of the year.
A 74-year-old man was killed in a Russian attack on a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday, regional governor Oleg Senigobov said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday it had captured the Ukrainian village of Nadia, one of the few settlements in the eastern Luhansk region still under Kiev’s control.
According to one report, Moscow developed about 4,000 square kilometers (1,540 sq mi) in Ukraine in 2024. AFP analysis, as Kiev’s army struggled with chronic manpower shortages and exhaustion.