Russia’s war of aggression: Moscow threatens to launch US missiles after alleged attack on Kiev

The Russian military has announced retaliation after a Ukrainian attack allegedly carried out with long-range Western missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram that several soldiers were injured by the ATACMS rocket fire at Taganrog Airport, but the damage was minor.

“The present attack with Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered and appropriate measures will be taken,” it continues. Three weeks ago, Russia fired its new medium-range ballistic missile at Ukraine for the first time in response to such an attack.

In a new incident this morning there were several explosions at the airport in the Rostov region of southern Russia. A power plant was also damaged. Kyiv did not officially provide any information about the weapon used. Local media speculated about the use of the newly developed Palyanytsya jet-powered drones.

The consequences of the first use of the Oreshnik rocket were minor

Russia, which regularly fires missiles at the neighboring country’s hinterland, described the recently permitted use of Western missiles against its own territory as an escalation. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin described the subsequent shelling of the Ukrainian industrial city of Dnipro with the medium-range missile called Oreshnik as a reaction.

Putin praised the weapon as unique in the world and comparable in destructive power to nuclear weapons. The consequences of the shelling were rather minor at the time. Putin spoke of a test under combat conditions.