Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the country’s updated nuclear doctrine today. The new doctrine sets out conditions under which Russia will consider using its arsenal. It allows for a broader use of nuclear weapons. According to the new doctrine, any conventional attack on Russia backed by a nuclear power could be considered a joint attack on Russia. Mr. Putin ordered the changes to the nuclear doctrine in September this year.
The move comes after U.S. President Joe Biden permitted Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles against targets deep inside Russian territory.
In a related development, Russia said that Ukraine has fired US-supplied long-range missiles into the country. The Defence Ministry said Ukraine used the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) in a strike on the Bryansk region this morning. It claimed that five missiles were shot down and one was damaged, with its fragments causing a fire at a military facility in the region. The strike represents the first time the long-range missiles have been used on Russia’s internationally recognized territory. Yesterday, Moscow said any such attack would prompt an appropriate and tangible response.
The Ukrainian military said that it had hit a large Russian arms depot near Karachev in the Bryansk region, 110 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. However, the Ukrainian military did not disclose which weapons were used in the attack.
On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces had captured a new village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region near the strategic town of Kurakhove after months of steady advances. The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops captured the settlement of Novoselydivka, north of the key hub of Kurakhove. According to media reports, the Russian army is now advancing rapidly in the Donetsk region, closing in on the industrial town of Kurakhove. Russian troops now control territory to the north, east, and south of Kurakhove.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the use of US-made Atacms in a Ukrainian attack on Bryansk was a signal that the West wants to escalate the conflict. He was speaking in Rio de Janeiro today.
