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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ukraine used the United States (U.S.) long-range missiles, ATACMS, to attack Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of the permission recently granted by the Joe Biden administration on the 1,000th day of the war.
Russia said its troops shot down five out of six missiles fired at military facilities in the Bryansk region. The debris of the missiles hit the facilities, triggering a quickly extinguished fire which caused no casualties or damage, it said.
Ukraine stated that they had attacked Russian weapon depots about 110 kilometers into Russian territory in an assault that resulted in a subsequent explosion. The Ukrainian military did not openly specify what weapons they used, but official Ukrainian sources and a U.S. official later confirmed that they used ATACMS.
This week, Biden approved for Ukraine to use ATACMS, a long-range missile supplied by Washington, for such attacks on Russia. Moscow described the potential use of the missiles as an escalation that would make Washington directly involved in the war and trigger retaliation.
The attack occurred as Ukraine marked the 1,000th day of the war, with fatigued forces on the frontlines, Kyiv under siege by airstrikes, one-fifth of Ukraine's territory in Moscow's hands, and uncertainties about Western support as Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Military experts said the use of U.S. missiles to strike positions deep inside Russia could help Ukraine negotiate and maintain the Russian territories it had taken as leverage. However, it is unlikely to have a decisive impact on the 33-month-long conflict.
Moscow stated that such weapons could not be used without direct operational support from the United States, and therefore their use would involve Washington directly in the war.
On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine apparently aimed as a warning to Washington. The agreement lowers the threshold for Russia's use of nuclear weapons, including in response to attacks threatening its territorial integrity.
Washington said the new nuclear doctrine was not surprising and cited 'the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia'.
Market Concerns
Reports of Ukraine's attack raised concerns in the markets, with stock indices dropping in Europe and safe-haven assets strengthening.
Trump criticized the amount of U.S. aid to Kyiv and said he would quickly end the war, without explaining how. Both sides seem to anticipate Trump's return in the next two months as a push for peace talks, which have not occurred since the start of the war.
The warring factions have intensified their efforts in recent weeks to secure stronger positions in any negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Kyiv must do everything for the war to end diplomatically next year.
"At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will win. Whether we will defeat the enemy, or the enemy will defeat us, the Ukrainian people... and Europe. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not under a dictator," he said in a speech in front of parliament on Tuesday to commemorate the 1,000 days of war.
A candlelight vigil is planned for today.
Thousands of Ukrainians have died, over six million people live as refugees abroad, and the population has decreased by a quarter since Putin ordered a land, sea, and air invasion that initiated the largest conflict in Europe since World War II.
Military losses are significant, although the casualty numbers are still classified. Western public estimates based on intelligence reports indicate hundreds of thousands wounded or killed on each side.
"In the frozen trenches in the Donetsk region and the scorched grasslands in the Kherson region, under bullet fire, hail, and anti-aircraft weapons, we fight for the right to live," wrote Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrkyi on Telegram.
In the first year after the invasion, Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian troops from the outskirts of Kyiv and reclaimed most territories with surprising military success against the larger and better-armed enemy.
However, since then, these enemies have engaged in relentless trench warfare that has reduced cities in eastern Ukraine to rubble. Russian forces still occupy one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, and over the past year, they have continued to gain strength.
Kyiv is now hoping to gain influence over part of the Kursk region in Russia that they seized after launching their first major cross-border assault in August. It is said that Russia has deployed 50,000 troops there to attempt to recapture it.
In an action condemned by the West as an escalation, Russia has now deployed 11,000 North Korean troops, some of whom, according to Kyiv, have clashed with Ukrainian forces in Kursk. Zelensky said Pyongyang could send 100,000 troops.
Russia continues to attack village by village in eastern Ukraine, claiming to have captured another settlement today.
As winter approaches, Moscow on Sunday escalated its airstrikes on troubled Ukrainian power systems, firing 120 missiles and 90 drones in the largest attack since August.
Publicly, there is no narrowing of the gap in the negotiating positions of the warring parties. Kyiv has long demanded a full Russian withdrawal from all its occupied territories, and security guarantees from the West equivalent to membership in the NATO alliance to prevent future Russian attacks.
The Kremlin stated that Ukraine must abandon all ambitions to join NATO and withdraw all its troops from the provinces Russia claimed to have annexed since their invasion.
REUTERS
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