Ukraine hits Russia with US ATACMS missiles for first time on war’s 1,000th day

KYIV: Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing administration of president Joe Biden on the war’s 1,000th day.

Russia said its forces shot down five out of six missiles, which were fired at a military facility in the Bryansk region. Debris of one hit the facility, starting a fire that was swiftly put out and caused no casualties or damage, it said.

Ukraine said it struck a Russian arms depot about 110km inside Russia in an attack that caused secondary explosions. Ukraine’s military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used, but a Ukrainian government source and a US official confirmed it had used ATACMS.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia was able to intercept two out of eight missiles fired by Ukraine and that the strike was at an ammunition supply point.

Biden gave approval this week for Ukraine to use ATACMS, the longest-range missiles Washington has supplied, for such attacks inside Russia. Moscow has described their potential use as an escalation that would make Washington a direct combatant in the war and prompt Russian retaliation.

The attack took place as Ukraine marked 1,000 days of war, with a fifth of Ukrainian territory in Moscow’s hands and doubts about the future of Western support as Donald Trump heads back to the White House.

The permission to use ATACMS gives Ukraine a new US ballistic missile capability inside Russia, although its range of up to 300km is much shorter than that of some missiles Moscow has used to strike Ukraine, including its hypersonic Kinzhal weapon with a reported range of up to 2,000km.

Military experts say using the US missiles to attack positions so deep in Russia can help Ukraine defend a pocket of Russian territory it captured as a bargaining chip, but is not likely to have a decisive impact on the course of the 33-month-old war, in part because the move came far too late.

Moscow has said such weapons cannot be used without direct operational support from the United States, and therefore their use would make Washington a direct participant in the war.

On Tuesday, president Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine that appeared intended as a warning to Washington. It lowers the threshold under which Russia might use atomic weapons to include responding to attacks that threaten its territorial integrity.

Washington said the update to the nuclear doctrine was no surprise and cited “more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia”.

Zelensky said the step showed Putin had no interest in peace: “Especially on this day … they presented (a) nuclear weapons strategy. Why? They didn’t present (a) peace strategy. Did you hear it? … Putin wants war.”

Market jitters

Reports of the Ukrainian attack caused jitters in markets, with share indexes sliding in Europe and safe haven assets rallying.

Trump has criticised the scale of US aid to Kyiv and said he will end the war quickly, without saying how. Both sides appear to anticipate his return in two months will be accompanied by a push for peace talks, which are not known to have taken place since the war’s early months.

The warring sides have been escalating to try to secure a stronger position at any negotiations. Zelensky says Kyiv must do everything for the war to end diplomatically next year.

“At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will prevail. Whether us over the enemy, or the enemy over us Ukrainians … and Europeans. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator,” he told parliament.

Dozens of civilians and soldiers gathered for a moment’s silence at a candle-lit commemoration in the evening in Kyiv. Some sobbed.

“My life has been turned upside down. There is no life for me. I only want victory and to return home. I am grateful to all the men defending our country,” said Yuliia, from the city of Mariupol which was captured by Russia in 2022.

Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have been killed, over six million live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Putin ordered the invasion that began Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two.

Military losses are huge, although casualty figures remain secret. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports say hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed on each side.

In the first year after the invasion, Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured territory. Since then, relentless trench warfare has ground eastern Ukrainian cities to dust.

Kyiv hopes to gain leverage from a sliver of territory in Russia’s Kursk region it captured after its first major cross-border assault in August. It says Russia has deployed 50,000 troops there to try to take it back.

In a move described in the West as an escalation, Russia has deployed 11,000 North Korean troops, some of whom Kyiv says have clashed with Ukrainian forces in Kursk. Zelensky said Pyongyang could send 100,000 soldiers.

Russia for its part continues to advance slowly in eastern Ukraine, and said it captured another settlement on Tuesday.

With winter setting in, Moscow on Sunday renewed its aerial assault on Ukraine’s power system, launching the biggest barrage since August.

Publicly there has been no narrowing of the gulf in negotiating positions. Kyiv demands a full Russian withdrawal from all occupied territory and security guarantees from the West comparable to membership in Nato’s mutual defence treaty to prevent future Russian attacks.

The Kremlin says Ukraine must drop all ambitions to join Nato and withdraw all troops from provinces Russia says it has annexed since its invasion.