MOSCOW: Russia vowed retaliation after Ukraine attacked an airfield in southern Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles early Wednesday, the Russian military said, vowing it would respond with “appropriate measures”.
President Vladimir Putin has previously threatened to launch a hypersonic ballistic missile at the centre of Kyiv if Ukraine did not halt its attacks on Russian territory using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Six Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) weapons were used in the attempted strike on a military airfield in Taganrog, a port city in Russia’s southern Rostov region on the shores of the Azov Sea, according to the Russian defence ministry.
Moscow reacted with fury after Washington gave Ukraine permission to use the ATACMS long-range missiles last month.
The missile is made by US defence group Lockheed Martin and has a top range of 190 miles (300 kilometres).
Hours after Ukraine’s overnight attack, Russia claimed its troops had recaptured territory in its western Kursk region, where Ukraine occupies swathes of territory.
On Wednesday, Putin told Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban that Kyiv’s “destructive” approach made a peace deal impossible.
Kyiv has been on edge since Russia fired its nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile at the city of Dnipro last month.
On November 21, Russia launched an experimental hypersonic weapon against Ukraine for the first time.
Putin called that retaliation for Kyiv firing US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow long-range missiles against targets on Russian territory.
Russia Vows Retaliation
In the latest attack, Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday that Ukraine fired six ATACMS missiles at a military airfield in Taganrog, a port city in the southern Rostov region.
“Two of the missiles were shot down by the combat crew of the Pantsir air defence system, while the others were deflected by electronic warfare equipment,” the ministry added.
It said no military personnel were hurt but that falling shrapnel “slightly damaged” military vehicles and buildings nearby.
“This attack by Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered and appropriate measures will be taken,” it added.
And one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday: “Russia has signalled its intent to launch another experimental Oreshnik missile at Ukraine, potentially in the coming days.”
Zelensky Hails Tangible Blows Against Russian Targets
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier hailed “tangible blows against Russian targets last night”, which he said would help bring peace closer.
In a post on Telegram, he said Ukraine had hit “military facilities on the territory of Russia, as well as facilities of the fuel and energy complex, which is working for aggression against our state and people”.
Ukraine’s general staff earlier claimed it had hit an oil depot in Russia’s Bryansk border region, also in an overnight strike.
Both sides have ramped up aerial attacks in recent weeks, seeking to boost their positions on the battlefield ahead as ceasefire talks build ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump coming to power next month.
Ukraine Peace Talks Efforts
Hungary’s Orban, who met Trump in Florida earlier this week, held a call with Putin on Wednesday to discuss the Ukraine conflict.
Putin discussed the Ukraine conflict in a call with Orban, who is casting himself as a possible peacemaker.
“There was a thorough exchange of views on Ukrainian issues,” the Kremlin said in its readout of the call, adding that Putin said Kyiv had adopted a “destructive” position that ruled out a peace agreement.
The call was initiated at Orban’s request, the Kremlin said, and comes a day after Budapest’s top diplomat said Hungary would forge ahead with its Ukraine “peace mission”.
Donald Trump has vowed to secure a peace deal within hours of coming to office in January.
However, Orban did not relay any message from Trump to Putin, Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told Russian press agency TASS, adding that no conversation between Trump and Putin was being planned at the moment.
“So far there have been no initiatives on the part of Trump, at least we are waiting until the inauguration, and there we will see,” the Kremlin spokesperson added.
“Viktor Orban expressed interest in assisting the joint search for political-diplomatic paths to resolve the crisis,” the Kremlin said.
He infuriated fellow EU leaders in July by conducting breakaway diplomacy with Russia to explore a path to ending the conflict, just days after taking over the bloc’s rotating six-month presidency.
This comes as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is also doing all he can to position his country at the forefront of efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine.
In this spirit, Tusk invited French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Warsaw on Thursday (December 12) to give a rundown of last weekend’s talks with US President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Tusk said he was in constant contact with his Scandinavian and Baltic allies and that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer would visit Warsaw when Poland starts taking over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency.
On Tuesday, Tusk said peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia could begin within the next several months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week met with incoming US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.
On Monday, Zelensky expressed an openness to negotiations, saying he had told Trump and Macron that he did not believe Putin wanted to end the war.
Tusk said Warsaw would be heavily involved in any talks when it takes up the European Union’s rotating presidency in January.
“I will have a series of talks concerning primarily the situation beyond our eastern border,” he told a government meeting.
“As you can imagine, our delegation will be co-responsible for, among other things, what the political calendar will look like, perhaps what the situation will be like during the negotiations, which may, although there is still a question mark, start in the winter of this year.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said peace negotiations had to be based on agreements reached in Istanbul in 2022 and on the current battlefield realities.
Peskov noted that Ukraine has banned contacts with the Russian leadership through a special decree which he said would have to be revoked if talks were to proceed.
“Our position on Ukraine is well known; the conditions for an immediate stop of hostilities were set out by President Putin in his speech to the Russian Foreign Ministry in June of this year. It is important to recall that it was Ukraine that refused and continues to refuse negotiations,” Peskov said as quoted by Reuters news agency.
Trump takes office in January and with his self-image as a great dealmaker boasted on the campaign trail that he could end the war in 24 hours.
Last week, Trump appointed the retired army general Keith Kellogg as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, tasked primarily with ending the war.
As the US transition approaches, both Moscow and Kyiv are warily considering the prospect of talks, downplaying the idea publicly yet manoeuvring to be in the best possible position when Trump takes office.
