Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Russian president Vladimir Putin has lowered the bar for using nuclear weapons
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Ukraine has launched its first American-supplied long-range missile strike against Vladimir Putin’s forces, according to Moscow.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that that Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMs missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region. In a statement reported by Russian news agencies, the ministry said it shot down five of them and damaged one more.
Use of the missiles was also reported in the Ukrainian media, but Kyiv has not commented.
The announcement comes after U.S. president Joe Biden authorised Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike hundreds of miles inside Russia for the first time.
It comes as Putin has signed a revised nuclear doctrine to lower the bar for future nuclear weapon use.
The updated doctrine, first announced in September but signed by Putin this week, declares that an attack using conventional weapons by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will now be considered a joint attack on Russia. It does not specify whether a joint attack will trigger a nuclear response.
But the doctrine does declare that a massive aerial attack against Russia could trigger a nuclear response.
Addressing parliament, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the war’s “decisive moments” will come in the next year.
On the 1,000th day of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, Mr Zelensky told Kyiv’s legislators: “At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will prevail. Whether us over the enemy, or the enemy over us Ukrainians… and Europeans. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator.”
A candlie-lit commemmoration is planned for later on Tuesday after thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over six million have been displaced as refugees and the population has fallen by a quarter.
“What took you so long, Joe?” President Biden’s belated decision to allow Ukrainian armed forces to deploy a key US-supplied missile system deeper into Russian territory will be a welcome boost to morale in Kyiv, as well as being of some material help. It should also prompt the British and French to follow suit and to generally encourage other allies to boost their support for Ukraine.
However, it is painful to reflect on how much more effective this change in tactics would have been had the move been made, say, a year or two ago. In hindsight, President Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats about escalation proved to be empty – and now no one thinks he’s about to bomb New York, Paris or London in revenge for the West giving the Ukrainians more firepower. As it is, in the dying days of the Biden administration, it seems unlikely to be the kind of “game changer” that President Zelensky and his long-suffering people have been virtually begging from the West since the earliest days of this conflict.
Read The Independent’s editorial:
Editorial: The US president sends a signal on his way out and although President-Elect Trump has a distaste for America’s involvement in the Ukraine war, that doesn’t mean he will bow down to Putin
Ukraine marked 1,000 days today since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with weary troops battling on numerous fronts, Kyiv besieged by frequent drone and missile strikes, and officials preparing for Donald Trump to reclaim the White House in January.
In a boost for the beleaguered country, US president Joe Biden gave the green light for US missiles to be used against targets deeper inside Russia, potentially limiting its options to launch attacks and supply the front.
But the dramatic shift in policy may be reversed when Mr Trump returns to the White House in January, and military experts cautioned that it would not be enough on its own to change the course of the 33-month-old war.
Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over 6 million live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion by land, sea and air that began Europe’s biggest conflict since the Second World War.
Military losses have been catastrophic, although they remain closely guarded secrets. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports vary widely, but most say hundreds of thousands have been killed or wounded on each side.
Tragedy has touched families in every corner of Ukraine, where military funerals are commonplace in major cities and far-flung villages, and people are exhausted by sleepless nights of air raid sirens and anguish.
Now the return of Mr Trump, who has vowed to end the fighting quickly – without saying how – calls into question the future of US military aid and the united Western front against Mr Putin, and raises the prospect of talks to end the war.
In a secret factory in central Russia, engineers are manufacturing hundreds of decoy drones meant to overwhelm Ukrainian defences as they try to protect against a horrific new weapon.
The plant in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone recently started churning out thermobaric drones alongside the decoys, an Associated Press investigation has found. The thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and heat that can penetrate thick walls. They suck out all the oxygen in their path, and have a fearsome reputation because of the injuries inflicted even outside the initial blast site: Collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, brain damage.
Read the full report:
The thermobaric warheads have a fearsome reputation due to the injuries inflicted, including collapsed lungs and crushed eyeballs
Kyiv said on Tuesday it struck a Russian arsenal near the town of Karachev in the Bryansk region, over 70 miles (110 km) from Ukraine, in what two Ukrainian media outlets reported was a first strike with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles.
There was no official confirmation from Ukraine about what weapon was used. The military’s general staff and military intelligence agency did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Kyiv was granted permission by the White House to use US supplied weapons to strike deeper into Russia.
Ukrainian outlets Forbes Ukraine and RBC Ukraine cited unnamed sources as saying that ATACMS had been used for the first time to conduct the strike in Karachev.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMs missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region.
In a statement carried by Russian news agencies, the ministry said it shot down five of them and damaged one more.
The fragments fell on the territory of an unspecified military facility, the ministry said. The announcement comes shortly after Washington lifted restrictions on Ukraine using U.S.-made longer-range missiles to strike Russia.
Ukraine has struck Russia territory with the American long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles for the first time, according to a source within the Ukrainian military.
The strike targeted a military facility near the city of Karachev in the Bryansk region of Russia overnight on Tuesday, the source told RBC-Ukraine.
“Indeed, for the first time, we used ATACMS to strike Russian territory. The strike was carried out against a facility in the Bryansk region, and it was successfully hit,” the source said.
Karachev is near Bryansk, which is around 120 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
The number of North Korean troops inside Russia could grow up to 100,000, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“Now, Putin has brought 11,000 North Korean troops to Ukraine borders. This contingent may grow to 100,000,” Mr Zelensky said in a virtual address to the European Parliament.
Kyiv and Western allies say North Korea has been supplying Russia with weaponry and troops, as Russian president Vladimir Putin’s forces seeks to seize as much territory as possible to strengthen Moscow’s negotiating position when US president-elect Donald Trump takes power.
North Korean troops have already engaged in combat operations against Ukrainian forces, South Korea’s spy agency said last week.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in