Russia promised to ” retaliate “after Ukraine launched American-made ATACMS missiles in the direction of its territory, after warning that the use of these missiles would face a severe response, while the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Nadia in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine.
It said its air defense systems also shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday morning, three of them over the Leningrad region in the north, causing the suspension of air navigation at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg.
“The actions of the Kiev regime, supported by its Western Guardians, will be retaliated against,” the Russian military said in a statement, after it announced earlier that it had intercepted 8 American-made ATACMS missiles targeting the Russian Belgorod region.
Suspension of air navigation at St. Petersburg airport
The Russian air transport authority (Rosaviatsia) announced the temporary suspension of operations at St. Petersburg airport for safety reasons. The Russian Air Transport Authority said on Saturday that no takeoffs or landings would be allowed at the moment. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 16 Ukrainian marches were destroyed during the night over the Bryansk, Smolensk, Belgorod, Pskov and Leningrad regions, the area around St. Petersburg.
Russia has repeatedly imposed restrictions at its airports in connection with attacks by Ukrainian drones. Due to the deployment of the Russian Defense Forces, take-offs and landings are sometimes not possible.
Missiles ” ATACMS “
The administration of US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine in November to use “ATACMS” missiles with a range of 300 kilometers to hit targets deep inside Russia, after North Korea deployed thousands of soldiers to help Moscow in the war against Kiev, according to Western allies of Ukraine.
Since then, Kiev has launched strikes using “atakams” and other long-range Western-made missiles.
Moscow responded by launching a strike against Ukrainian territory using the hypersonic “oreshnik” missile, and warned of responding harshly every time Kiev uses Western-made missiles against its territory.
Additional assistance to Ukraine
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he expected the United States to announce additional security assistance to Ukraine in the coming days.
Kirby said that the expected aid announcement comes after Washington announced last week the provision of 5.9 billion dollars of additional military and financial assistance to Ukraine, in addition to holding a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense contact group in Germany on the ninth of January.
In turn, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday that air defense systems shot down 34 of the 81 drones launched by Russia during the night. He added that the threat of 47 drones had been neutralized, a reference to Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare tools in redirecting Russian drones.
Two people were injured in a drone attack in the city of shepekino near the Ukrainian border, according to the governor of the Belgorod region of Russia Vyacheslav Gladkov. At least 10 people were injured in a Ukrainian strike on the Russian-occupied city of Gorlivka in eastern Ukraine, according to Mayor Ivan Prikhodo.
The Russian military said in a statement that “the air defense Media shot down 8 missiles… American-made ATACMS and 72 drones ” were launched by Kiev. The statement did not say whether the attack resulted in casualties or material damage.
