Kyiv targets Russian arsenal in Bryansk in alleged first ATACMS missile strike

Kyiv said on November 19 that it struck a Russian arsenal near the town of Karachev in the Bryansk region, over 110 km (70 miles) from Ukraine, in what two Ukrainian media outlets reported was a first strike with US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

There was no official confirmation from Ukraine about what weapon was used, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The military's general staff and military intelligence agency did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Ukrainian outlets cited unnamed sources as saying that ATACMS had been used for the first time to conduct the strike in Karachev. 

However, Russia's defence ministry said its forces destroyed 12 Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk region, where the attack took place, between 7:15 a.m. (0415 GMT) and 8:35 a.m., and four more between 9:10 a.m. and 9:20 a.m.

Meanwhile, on November 19, Russian air defence forces had shot down 85 drones and five ballistic missiles launched by Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

The Ukrainian military said its strike was followed by 12 secondary explosions and detonations in the area.

"The destruction of ammunition depots will continue for the army of the Russian occupiers in order to stop the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine," it said.

Ukraine often uses domestically produced drones to hit targets deep inside Russia, further away than Karachev.

In recent development Kyiv was granted permission by the White House to use US-supplied weapons to strike deeper into Russia. Reuters cited sources saying that Kyiv would begin the strikes in the coming days and that they would likely be carried out using ATACMS missiles.

It has also started testing and producing small numbers of its own missiles, but it has repeatedly said that permission to conduct long-range strikes with US-supplied weapons would allow it to hit Russia's logistics and launch sites for ordnance used to bomb Ukraine.

Washington for months resisted pressure from Kyiv and some of its allies to grant permission to use ATACMS inside Russia, fearing that the step would be seen as escalatory by the Kremlin.

The change comes largely in response to Russia's deployment of North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv, a US official and a source familiar with the decision said.

By Aghakazim Guliyev