Ukraine’s military has claimed its largest air attacks yet on Russian territory since the start of the war nearly three years ago as Donald Trump prepares to take the presidency in the United States.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday said it will retaliate for the large-scale missile and drone attacks overnight, and accused Ukraine of again using missiles supplied by the US and the United Kingdom.
The Russian military said most of the projectiles were shot down, with attacks targeting multiple cities and industrial sites.
The Russian cities of Saratov and Engels were reportedly hit, with some damage caused to factories in the area. Some schools were forced to switch to remote learning while several airports were forced to temporarily halt air traffic.
Ukrainian forces had attacked the same region last week as well, claiming to have struck an oil depot serving an airbase for Russian bomber planes. The attack caused a large fire that had only been put out a day before the latest strikes.
Ukraine’s military said Tuesday that it also hit points in Bryansk, Tula and Tatarstan, with a chemical factory that makes rocket fuel and ammunition for Russia’s army among the targets.
Ukraine first started using US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadow projectiles to strike targets inside Russia in late November last year.
Russia, which has said it wants talks but will not back away from its demands on Ukraine, has warned that the move could significantly increase tensions. Moscow also launched a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as Oreshnik at Ukraine that it said was ready to use again.
A day before the latest Ukrainian strikes on Russia, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Ukraine is currently not strong enough to “negotiate from a position of strength”, something the incoming US president said he wants to see.
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