Russia Ukraine war: Kyiv fires US ATACMS missiles for first time

Russia has hit out at the US for its decision to send long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time, claiming the move increases the risks of a direct conflict between Nato and Moscow.

Western backers of Ukraine have been reluctant to provide long-range munitions since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February last year, fearing that their use against targets within Russia would represent an escalation of the conflict.

But Ukraine has repeatedly argued that it needs long-range missiles and other more powerful equipment like fighter jets in order to defend itself against attacks launched from military facilities deep inside Russia.

President Joe Biden may consider a supplemental request of about $100 billion that would include defence aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, multiple sources familiar with the request told Reuters on Tuesday.

Biden has been widely expected to ask Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill within days, as Washington responds to the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants while looking to continue to support Ukraine as it grapples with a Russian invasion.

U.S. Senate leaders had said earlier on Tuesday they expected Biden to send them a request by the end of this week for billions of dollars in assistance for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan and for security at the U.S. border.

Two of the sources said the request was for a full year of funding, explaining the large size.

A congressional source familiar with the request said Israel had asked for $10 billion, as it responds to an attack on its citizens by the Iran-backed militant group Hamas. Israel already receives $3.8 billion per year from the United States, under a 10-year agreement that began in 2016.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken of building stronger ties with South Africa after a “lengthy and fruitful” phone call with President Ramaphosa.

He posted on X to say: “I welcome South Africa’s participation in the Peace Formula talks and thank President Ramaphosa for confirming further engagement in their next rounds.

“We both agreed on the importance of continued Ukrainian food exports for global and Africa’s food security and the functioning of Ukraine’s Black Sea export corridor.

“I invited South Africa to our second ‘Grain From Ukraine’ summit. We also discussed the developments in the Middle East and their implications for regional and global security, as well as ways to evacuate South African citizens.”

The European Commission has already provided more than €50 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, established to support the Ukrainian energy system amidst Russia’s attacks on critical infrastructure.

The move was announced by Kadri Simson, a European Commissioner, following a meeting of the Council of the European Union on energy issues, as reported by European Pravda.

“The Commission has already earmarked over 50 million euros to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund and I encouraged the Member States to continue their donations, too,” Simson said.

She added that the European Union will do everything possible to ensure that this winter, “effects of any Russian attacks targeting Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure will be minimised”.

Ukraine on Tuesday claimed to have carried out one of the most destructive attacks on Russian air assets since the beginning of the war, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the assault used longer-range ballistic missiles donated by the United States.

Zelensky’s announcement came hours after a US official revealed that the longer-range ballistic missiles sought for months by Kyiv and promised by President Joe Biden had been delivered quietly and are in battlefield use.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces claimed it destroyed nine Russian helicopters at two airfields in Russia-occupied regions in a nighttime attack on targets in eastern and southern Ukraine.

It also hit military equipment, an air-defense system, ammunition warehouses and runways, a statement said. Dozens of Russian military personnel were injured in the attack codenamed Operation Dragonfly, it said.

The US has delivered all the previously pledged 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, US Army Europe and Africa Command’s spokesperson Martin O’Donnell told the Voice of America.

The Ukrainian soldiers who trained on Abrams with US troops in Germany have also returned to Ukraine, along with ammunition and spare tank parts, according to O’Donnell.

“We have lived up to our end of the bargain. From this point forward, it is up to them (Ukraine) to determine when and where they will deliver this capability,” the US military official said, as cited by the Voice of America.

The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in southeastern Ukraine in June caused $14 billion worth of damage and losses, a Tuesday report by the Ukrainian government and the United Nations said.

Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the dam, which crosses the Dnipro River, flooding the surrounding area with landmine-contaminated water and leaving areas upstream without water.

Moscow has denied responsibility.

“The stark figures speak for themselves. The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam has resulted in a staggering loss and damage,” said Christophoros Politis, the United Nations Development Program’s deputy resident representative in Ukraine, at a presentation in Kyiv.

Russia said it need no longer obey U.N. Security Council restrictions on giving missile technology to its ally Iran once they expire on Wednesday, without saying whether it now planned to support Tehran’s missile development.

“Supplies to and from Iran of products falling under the Missile Technology Control Regime no longer require prior approval by the U.N. Security Council,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The restrictions were defined in Resolution 2231 of 2015 endorsing a deal by which Britain, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. removed sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear programme.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, known as the JCPOA, leaving unilateral U.S. sanctions in place, and Iran subsequently accelerated its nuclear programme, which it says is purely peaceful.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday rejected comments by U.S. President Joe Biden, saying in an interview in Beijing that Moscow’s interests could not be suppressed, and that U.S. politicians should learn to respect others.

Putin was responding to comments by U.S. President Joe Biden in an interview with CBS News, where he said: “Imagine what happens if we, in fact, unite all of Europe and Putin is finally put down where he cannot cause the kind of trouble he’s been causing”.

In a brief interview aired on state television during a summit in the Chinese capital, Putin said: “This is not about me personally. This is about the interests of the country. And it is impossible to suppress the interests of Russia. They have to be taken into account.”

Putin said that both Biden, with whom he has had an antagonistic relationship since the U.S. president took office in 2021, and the wider American political elite needed to learn to “respect” Russia.

He said: “This applies not only to President Biden, but also to the U.S. political elites as a whole. You must learn to respect others, and then there will be no need to suppress anyone.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Kyiv has used U.S.-provided long-ranged ATACMS missile.

“Today, special thanks to the United States. Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented. Very accurately – ATACMS proved themselves,” he said in his nightly address.

Earlier on Tuesday, media reported that Kyiv had used ATACMS for the first time in attacks on Russian-occupied territories.