MOSCOW: Russia vowed on Saturday to retaliate after it accused Ukraine of firing US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the border region of Belgorod the previous day.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden authorised Kyiv to use the long-range weapons against Russia last year, in a move the Kremlin denounced as a grave escalation of the nearly three-year conflict.

“On Jan 3, an attempt was made from Ukrainian territory to launch a missile strike against the Belgorod region using US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles,” the Russian defence ministry said. “These actions by the Kyiv regime, which is supported by Western curators, will be met with retaliation,” it added, saying all the missiles were shot down. The ministry said earlier that air defences downed eight ATACMS missiles in total, without saying when or where.

At least three people, including two children, were wounded in a Russian attack on the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, local authorities said. Sumy region borders Russia’s Kursk region and has been regularly shelled by Russian forces for months.

Moscow’s gas cutoff sparks more blackouts in breakaway Moldovan region

“Russians dropped a bomb on a residential building. Two children and one adult were injured. One entrance of the apartment building was destroyed,” Sumy military administration said on the Telegram messenger. Moreover, Russian strike on a village in Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region killed a 74-year-old man, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.

Russian forces continue to launch attacks near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in an effort to bypass it from the south and cut off supply routes to Ukraine’s troops, the Ukrainian military said. The capture of the road and rail hub in the eastern Donetsk region could create serious difficulties for the Ukrainian army on the eastern front and also allow Russia to reinforce and advance its front line to the west.

Gas cutoff

The separatist Moldovan region of Transnistria ordered a second day of rolling blackouts on Saturday, as a shutdown in Russian gas supplies starved the pro-Moscow self-proclaimed state of energy.

The tiny breakaway republic bordering Ukraine has been unable to provide heating and hot water to its residents since Wednesday, when Moscow cut off gas supplies to Moldova over a financial dispute. “In Transnistria today, Jan 4, there will be rolling blackouts for three hours,” Transnistria’s government said on Telegram.

Parts of the separatist region’s largest city Tiraspol will again be cut off, as well as smaller towns and villages, it added.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2025