Ukraine struck targets inside Russia with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles for the first time, according to reporting from Bloomberg on Wednesday.
The Storm Shadow missiles are the latest new Western weapon Ukraine has been permitted to use on Russian targets. They were fired just a day after the country fired US ATACMS missiles against Russia for the first time, according to Reuters.
Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike into Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin updated the country's nuclear doctrine on Tuesday.
“Russia’s new nuclear doctrine means NATO missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia," said former Russian president and current deputy chair of Russia’s security council in a statement on his Telegram channel. "Russia could retaliate with WMD [weapons of mass destruction] against Kyiv and key NATO facilities, wherever they’re located. That means World War III."
The doctrine now states that aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state that is carried out with the participation or support of a nuclear state will be considered a joint attack, according to Reuters. Putin has said previously that Western countries would be fighting Russia directly if they allowed Ukraine to fire deep inside Russia with Western-supplied weapons.
Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow's invasion, which entered its thousandth day earlier this week.
US embassy shuttered
The use of the missiles comes after the US Embassy in Kyiv closed on Wednesday "out of an abundance of caution" after it said it received "specific information of a potential significant air attack on November 20." The embassy recommended all US citizens be prepared to shelter in place in case of an air raid siren, which did sound early afternoon on Wednesday.
The United States expects its embassy in Kyiv to return to normal operations on Thursday after a security threat, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller later told reporters on Wednesday.
The Italian and Greek embassies also closed, and the French Embassy remained cautiously open.
Ukraine's military spy agency accused Russia of attempting to sow panic by circulating messages about a threat of massive-scale drone and missile attacks across the country, according to reporting from The Kyiv Independent.
"The enemy, unable to subdue Ukrainians by force, resorts to measures of intimidation and psychological pressure on society. We ask you to be vigilant and steadfast," it said.
Andrey Kartapolov, a State Duma member and former Russian military official, said that the embassies's decisions to close was "simply stirring up the situation."
"The strike will, as always, be unexpected and effective," said former deputy defense minister Kartapolov to Russian reporters. "They are escalating it themselves. You have surely seen reports that the American embassy has ceased operations, the Italian embassy as well. This is simply creating tension. In terms of information, it is to accuse us of escalating. We are not escalating; we are doing exactly the opposite. If it weren’t for Biden’s insane decision, joined by the Canadians, to allow strikes on our territory with long-range weapons, none of this would be happening. As it is, let them sit in their holes and be afraid."
Additionally, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview published on Wednesday that Moscow would retaliate against NATO countries that facilitate long-range Ukrainian missile strikes against Russian territory.
Russian war correspondent accounts on Telegram posted footage that they said included the sound of the missiles striking in the Kursk region. At least 14 huge explosions could be heard, most of them preceded by the sharp whistle of what sounded like an incoming missile. The footage, shot in a residential area, showed black smoke rising in the distance.
The pro-Russian Two Majors Telegram channel said Ukraine had fired up to 12 Storm Shadows into the Kursk region, and carried pictures of pieces of missile with the name Storm Shadow clearly visible.
According to Reuters, Military analysts have said the longer-range missiles are unlikely to give Ukraine a decisive edge in the war but could help it strengthen its position, especially in the battle for a sliver of land inside Russia's Kursk region it seized in August.
Britain had previously allowed Ukraine to use Storm Shadows within Ukrainian territory. The Kyiv government has been pressing Western partners for permission to use such weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, and obtained the all-clear from US President Joe Biden to use the ATACMS this week, two months before Biden leaves office.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his office would not be commenting on reports or operational matters.
President-elect Donald Trump has said he will end the war in one day, without saying how. This has been internationally regarded as some form of peace talks, which both sides have shown some form of willingness to do. Just last week, Zelensky said, "we must do everything to ensure that the war ends next year through diplomatic means,” and added that he thought that the war would end "faster" under the incoming Trump administration.
Kremlin Spokesman Dimitry Peskov has said that Putin is open to talks with Trump but that the widely-accepted Trump strategy of "freezing" the war in Ukraine will not work.
“The [Russian] president has repeatedly said that any option of freezing the conflict won’t work for us,” Peskov told Russian media on Wednesday.
The Kremlin spokesman did note that " the [Russian] President has repeatedly — in fact, constantly — stated that he is open to contacts and negotiations."