After being 'unlocked' by the US, Ukraine immediately used ATACMS missiles to attack Russian soil?

Reuters on November 19 quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that the Ukrainian army used long-range ATACMS missiles provided by the US to attack Russian territory.

The Russian military said it shot down five of six ATACMS missiles launched at a military facility in Bryansk province (Russia), with fragments of one falling on the facility, but no damage or casualties were recorded.

Ukraine said it had attacked an arms depot deep inside Russian territory, about 110 km from the Ukrainian border, but did not specify what weapons were used.

ATACMS missiles used in US-South Korea exercises in 2022

Earlier, Ukraine's RBC news agency quoted a Ukrainian military official as saying that Kyiv had used ATACMS for the first time to attack Russian territory on November 19. "The attack targeted a facility in the Bryansk region and hit the target," the source said.

Russian media sources reported explosions coming from the Karachev district and suggested that a “military base” was under attack. Local reports said there were attacks on the arsenal in late 2023, followed by others in June and October this year.

The news of Ukraine using ATACMS to attack Russian soil emerged after US President Joe Biden approved Ukraine's use of this weapon against Russian territory, a request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been calling for for months. The news of the ATACMS attack also came as the Russia-Ukraine conflict entered its 1,000th day.

Moscow has declared that the US’s “unlocking” of Ukraine’s use of ATACMS against Russian soil is an escalation and has vowed to retaliate. Meanwhile, military experts say the weapon, produced by the US, could enhance Kyiv’s offensive capabilities but is unlikely to be a game-changer. The ATACMS missile has a range of about 300 km, reaches speeds of more than Mach 3 (about 1 km/s) and can be deployed from the HIMARS launcher that Washington has provided Ukraine.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/duoc-my-mo-khoa-ukraine-lien-dung-ten-lua-atacms-tan-cong-dat-nga-185241119201856327.htm