On January 14 local time, Ukraine deployed a series of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) deep into Russian territory. After the attack, the Russian army vowed to retaliate.
According to Reuters, Ukraine used 6 US-made ATACSM ballistic missiles, 6 British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and 1 largest UAV squadron that Kiev has ever deployed in the attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had shot down all the missiles launched by Ukraine in Bryansk Oblast. In addition, the Russian military also destroyed 146 UAVs in areas outside the war zone.
Kievs actions with Western backing will be met with a response, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.
Ukraine first attacked Russia with ATACSM ballistic missiles on November 18, 2024 after being permitted by the US. Russia immediately responded with an attack with the Oreshnik hypersonic missile on November 20, 2024.
The Ukrainian General Staff said the attack had reached 1,100 km into Russian territory. The main targets are oil depots, refineries, chemical plants and ammunition production facilities in the Bryansk, Saratov, Tula and Tatarstan regions. However, Kiev did not announce details of the attack method.
Governor of Russia's Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said that a series of UAVs launched a massive attack on the evening of January 14 (local time) causing damage to two industrial parks, and schools in the area have switched to online learning.
According to information from the Russian Defense Ministry, on January 13, Ukraine also launched a UAV airstrike in Russia. Nine UAVs have committed suicide by crashing into a gas compressors in Russia's Krasnodar region.
This is the area where the TurkStream gas pipeline is located, one of the important pipelines for Russia to supply gas to Turkey and many other European countries.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the US may have encouraged Kiev to carry out the attack and promoted actions that disrupted Europe's energy security.
