MOSCOW: Moscow on Thursday vowed to retaliate against Ukraine for an attack on an enterprise in the Rostov region in southern Russia using Western-supplied long-range weapons, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
The United States gave Kyiv permission to use longer-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory last month, in a move decried by Moscow as a dangerous escalation.
The defence ministry in Moscow accused Ukraine of firing six US-supplied ATACMS missiles and four British Storm Shadow missiles on an enterprise in the southern Rostov region.
“The actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western curators, will not go unanswered,” the ministry said in a statement as reported by TASS news agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously threatened to strike the centre of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile if Ukraine carried on hitting Russian territory with Western weapons.
In response to previous alleged attacks with US-supplied ATACMS, Russia fired the never-before-used Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro and launched a massive aerial barrage on Ukraine’s energy grid.
Russia said the Ukrainian attack on the Kamensky Integrated Plant happened on Wednesday.
“During the anti-missile defence battle, the combat crews of S-400 and Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile systems and a Pantsyr surface-to-air missile/gun system shot down all the ATACMS and three out of four Storm Shadow missiles. One cruise missile was deflected from the site of the attack. Its fall damaged a technical structure on the enterprise’s premises,” the ministry said.
Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on the Rostov region — where Russia’s military headquarters for its offensive is based — in recent weeks.
In the early hours of Thursday Kyiv fired drones and missiles at an oil refinery there, triggering a large fire, according to both Ukrainian and Russian officials.
Trump and EU Must Work Together
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he needed both Europe and the United States on board to secure a durable peace, as he huddled with EU leaders at their final summit before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Trump returns to the White House next month having pledged to bring a swift end to the conflict.
Talk has increasingly turned to ways Europe could help guarantee any ceasefire, with embryonic discussions over a possible deployment of peacekeepers one day.
But there are few specifics and Zelensky insisted that any steps to secure peace would have to involve the might of the United States.
“I believe that the European guarantees won’t be sufficient for Ukraine,” he said after talks with his EU counterparts.
Zelensky said he was supportive of an initiative mooted by French President Emmanuel Macron to potentially deploy Western troops — but it needed to be fleshed out.
Zelensky’s Stance on Potential Peace Deal
As the change of guard approaches in the US, Zelensky has appeared to soften his stance on any potential peace push.
He has said that if Ukraine is given firm security guarantees by NATO and enough weaponry it could agree to a ceasefire along current lines and look to regain the rest of its territory through diplomatic means.
But NATO members have rebuffed Kyiv’s calls for an invitation to join their alliance right away, sparking speculation that sending peacekeepers could be an alternative.
In the near-term, Kyiv is desperate for more air defences and weapons as its forces lose ground across the frontline to Russia.
Zelensky said it would be “very difficult” for Europe alone to support Ukraine without US involvement and pleaded for both sides to work together.
“I think only together the United States and Europe can really stop Putin and save Ukraine,” he said.
European officials meanwhile fired warnings at Trump that any push to impose a deal on Ukraine could backfire.
“Any push for negotiations too soon will actually be a bad deal for Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Russian Offensive in Kharkiv
Meanwhile, Ukraine said a Russian missile strike on Thursday killed three people in the village of Shevchenkove in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian troops were advancing.
Russia struck at 1300 GMT with an Iskander missile, according to preliminary data from the police.
Moscow’s forces are advancing in the region that borders Russia and are aiming to recapture the town of Kupiansk, which was occupied in the first year of the war.
Ukraine recaptured it in September 2022 as part of a lightning offensive that saw its forces regain large swathes of the Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian troops are on the back foot across the front line in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions further south, ceding ground to Russian troops. – Agencies
