V. Putin: attacks on Ukraine is the response to ATACMS strikes

Russia boasts of major achievements in response to Ukraine's ATACMS missile strikes

Russia attacked targets in Ukraine overnight on Thursday with 90 missiles and more than 100 drones. This was in response to the latest ATACMS missile strikes, the country's President Vladimir Putin told the Collective Security Treaty Council.

He assured that the Russian army hit 17 targets, including defense industry installations, military facilities, and support systems^[1].

In total, Russia has fired 100 missiles over the past few days, including Kalibr, Kijal, and Zircon complexes, and 466 attack drones.

"Once again, these strikes were carried out by us in response to continuous American ATACMS missile strikes on Russian territory. As I have repeatedly said, there will always be a response from our side," he stressed.

Overnight on Thursday, an air strike alert was issued across Ukraine

"Ukrenergo has started emergency power cuts because energy facilities across the country are under intense attack, Ukraine's energy minister Herman Halushchenko said at the time.

Andriy Godyk, deputy head of the administration of the Lviv region, clarified that two energy infrastructure facilities were damaged in the eastern attacks. He warned that the region's population would face tight energy supply schedules in the coming days or even weeks.

Two days earlier, on 26 November, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had struck the Kursk region with ATACMS missiles^[2].

Prior to that, on 23 November, troops operating the S-400 system were attacked in the rural area of Lotarevka. Three missiles were destroyed, two hitting the target and damaging the radar. There were casualties among the military personnel.

On 25 November, eight missiles attacked the Kursk-Vostochny airfield. Seven missiles were shot down by combat crews of the S-400 and Pantsir air defense missile systems, one of which reached its target. Falling missile fragments injured two soldiers.

The Ministry of Defence reiterated that it would prepare a response to the use of Western long-range weapons in Ukraine.

Moscow's new Oreshnik weapon has been upgraded to a nuclear weapon

The mass deployment of Russia's latest Oreshnik hypersonic missile system will have the same consequences as the use of nuclear weapons, President Putin warned at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation in a narrow format.

"According to military and technical experts, in the event of a mass, group use of these missiles, i.e. when several missiles are fired simultaneously, the power of such an attack would be similar to the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Although Oreshnik is not a weapon of mass destruction", the Russian Head of State said.

V. Putin stressed that the tests on 21 November confirmed that Oreshnik is a high-precision weapon. "The most important thing is that there is no nuclear charge, so there will be no nuclear contamination after its use," the Russian leader stressed.

Will the Ukrainian capital be attacked?

The Russian General Staff and the Ministry of Defence are now selecting targets for Oreshnik missile strikes on Ukrainian territory. This was announced by Putin a couple of days ago.

According to the President, these could be decision-making centers in Kyiv. Putin recalled that Ukraine had repeatedly tried to attack targets in Moscow and St Petersburg.

"The leaders in Kiev have lost legitimacy, they are usurpers and do not even have the right to give orders to the army", he stressed.

V. Putin added that the Oreshnik system can hit well-guarded targets at great depth.

"The missile hits even highly protected and deeply hidden targets," the head of state warned.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier that Russia would ensure that the United States would be "shaken and rattled" by its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

"They should understand, these same planners, that by doing so they are confirming the fact that the United States has already become a party to this conflict, to call a spade a spade," Riabkov explained.

The Ukrainians claim to have repelled the strikes

Overnight on Wednesday, the Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 36 Russian unidirectional attack drones flying into the country. This is according to the Ukrainian Air Force, Elta reported.

As of 19:30 on Tuesday, the Russians had attacked Ukraine with 89 Shahed UAVs and an unidentified type of drone from the Oryol, Bryansk, Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk regions^[3].

Aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare teams, and mobile fire teams repelled the attack.

At 9.00 a.m., air defense forces shot down 36 enemy drones in the areas of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky, and Nykolayev.

A further 48 drones disappeared from radar, probably as a result of active countermeasures by electronic warfare units, and five drones left Ukrainian airspace in the direction of Belarus, Russia and the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.

In Kyiv, all airborne targets - unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles used by the Russian army in a combined attack on the Ukrainian capital - were eliminated on Thursday morning, the municipal administration reported^[4].

Serhiy Popko, head of the administration, noted that the enemies most likely used cruise missiles and different types of drones.

"At almost exactly midnight, an air raid alert was sounded in the capital, as there was a threat of a drone attack from the east. The alert lasted almost nine and a half hours. In the middle of the day, Russian forces fired Ch-101 missiles from a Tu-95MS strategic aircraft," explained Popko.

According to the official, the missiles approached Kyiv from different directions. During the air battle, all targets that threatened Kyiv were destroyed.

According to confirmed data, debris fell in two districts of the capital. No casualties were reported. The windows of a local company building were smashed, a door was blown open and a lorry was damaged.