Russia preps retaliation after officials say Kyiv used U.S. missiles

Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Tuesday said that on two occasions in the last three days, Ukrainian forces used U.S.-supplied Army tactical missile systems, or ATACMS, in Russia’s Kursk region. The attacks involved more than a dozen of the long-range, guided missiles and took place just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin told the world Russia might consider retaliating with a nuclear strike in response to such missile attacks.

What details has the Kremlin provided about these two strikes? The first attack, which took place on Saturday, damaged radar equipment at an airfield, the defense ministry said. The Russian military also confirmed some of its troops suffered casualties, but it did not provide further details on the nature and extent of the casualties. The second attack took place on Monday. It lightly injured two Russian soldiers and damaged some buildings and equipment, the Kremlin said.

What does Ukraine have to say? As of Tuesday afternoon, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense had not acknowledged the strike. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday it was important for his country’s self-defense to have the ability to destroy enemy missile launching equipment inside Russian borders.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift from last week about NATO officials’ analysis of a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile strike that hit Ukraine’s Dnipro region.