Russia will 'definitely' respond to Ukraine ATACMS strike

MOSCOW

This handout photograph published on Dec. 11, 2024, on the official Telegram channel of the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration Ivan Fedorov, shows rescuers searching for people under the rubble of a medical clinic destroyed by a missile in the city of Zaporizhzhia, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia will "definitely" respond to a Ukrainian attack on a southern airfield using U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

President Vladimir Putin has previously threatened to launch its new hypersonic ballistic missile, named Oreshnik, at the center of Kiev if Ukraine does not halt its attacks on Russian territory using U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Dec. 11 accused Ukraine of firing the missiles in an overnight attack on an airfield in the port city of Taganrog in the southern Rostov region.

A response "will follow when, and in a way that is deemed, appropriate. It will definitely follow," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He did not provide details of how Russia might retaliate.

Washington only recently gave Kiev permission to fire ATACMS on Russian territory, following months of requests.

The United States warned on Dec. 11 that Russia could be preparing to fire Oreshnik missiles at Ukraine again.

The U.S. warning was "based on an intelligence assessment that it's possible that Russia could use this Oreshnik missile in the coming days," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists.

Both sides have escalated aerial attacks in recent months as Russia's troops advance on the battlefield.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday its troops had captured the tiny settlement of Zarya in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones targeted a police barracks in the southern Russian region of Chechnya overnight, the regional head said on Thursday, the second attack on the site this month.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said a drone was "shot done" over the building in the regional capital Grozny on Thursday, with four guards receiving light wounds from the falling debris.