Ukraine has fired US-supplied long-range rockets targeting Russia’s interior for the first time, a day after Washington gave its permission for such attacks.
US officials confirmed the use of the Armed Forces Strategic Rocket Framework (ATACOMS) to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Russia’s defence service earlier said the attack targeted the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine on Tuesday morning.
The service said five rockets were shot down and one damaged, parts of which set a fire at a military office in the region.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Washington of trying to escalate the conflict.
The repeated use of ATCOMs overnight against the Bryansk region is definitely a sign that they [the US] need to act fast, he said.
“And without the Americans, the use of these high-tech rockets, as Putin has said many times, is impossible.”
He said Russia would “proceed from the understanding” that the rockets were piloted by “American military experts”.
“We will take this as a renewed Western war of words against Russia and we will respond in the same way,” he said at a press conference at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin approved changes to Russia’s nuclear training, setting out the unspoken conditions under which the country would consider using its arsenal.
It now says an attack from a non-nuclear state, if sponsored by a nuclear power, will be considered a joint attack on Russia.
Ukraine has already been using Atraks in Russian-occupied areas of its claimed territory for more than a year.
The rockets can hit targets at a range of up to 300 km (186 miles) and are difficult to intercept.
Kiev is currently able to strike even deeper into Russia using rockets, including around the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy more than 1,000 square kilometres. Ukrainian and US officials have reportedly feared a retaliatory strike in the region.
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In a statement, Russia’s counterintelligence service said the attack was carried out at 03:25 (00:25 GMT).
The fire caused by debris from one of the rockets was immediately extinguished and there were no casualties, it said.
Ukraine’s military earlier confirmed it had attacked an ammunition distribution centre in the Russian region of Bryansk, but did not indicate whether Attakams were used.
It said the attack, on a warehouse about 100km from the border near the city of Karachev, caused 12 subsidiary explosions.