The Russian Ministry of Defense declared this Saturday in a press release that it had “foiled” a Ukrainian night attack by “ATACMS missiles” above the annexed Crimean peninsula. “Air defense shot down four operational-tactical missiles over the territory of the Crimean peninsula,” which Russia annexed in 2014, he added. Russia has not indicated whether these four missiles or the falling debris from them caused any damage.
ATACMS missiles are long-range weapons recently supplied to Ukraine by the United States. Indeed, in April, Washington announced that it had sent these missiles to kyiv, which had long requested them in order to be able to strike further behind the front line.
Ukraine used American ATACMS missiles against Russia for the first time in October, but those sent recently have a longer range, up to 300 km away. Ukraine was seeking to obtain them in order to strike Russian supply routes, warehouses or military HQs further away from the front line.