Ukraine fires long-range ATACMS missiles into Russia as Moscow lowers nuclear weapon rules

Decision comes days after the US granted Ukraine limited permission for missile strikes on Russian territory

Moscow updated a doctrine which pledges to use nuclear weapons in response to a massive conventional attack on its soil, as Ukraine fired the first US-made ATACMS missiles into Russia on Tuesday.

The document posted on Tuesday, the 1,000th day of Russia's war against Ukraine, says that an attack against Russia by a non-nuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation”.

It does not specify whether such an attack would necessarily lead to a nuclear response, but it mentions the “uncertainty of scale, time and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent” among the crucial principles of nuclear deterrence.

At the same time, it spells out conditions for using nuclear weapons in greater detail compared to the previous version of the doctrine, noting they could be used in case of a large air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles.

The decision comes days after the US reportedly granted Ukraine limited permission to use ATACMS, which stands for Army Tactical Missile Systems, pronounced “attack-ems", weapons inside Russia.

Ukraine used the ATACMS weapons on Tuesday for the first time in the Bryansk border region, Russia's military said. "At 03.25am, the enemy struck a site in the Bryansk region with six ballistic missiles. According to confirmed data, US-made ATACMS tactical missiles were used," said the Defence Ministry.

Five missiles were shot down by its air defences, while fragments from a sixth fell onto an unspecified "military facility", causing a small fire, it added. "There were no casualties or damage," it said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in September to revise its doctrine to account for “aggression” by non-nuclear states supported by nuclear power.

The Russian leader has previously warned the US and its European allies against allowing Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia using Western long-range, high-precision weapons, saying this would bring them into direct conflict with his country.

Ukraine has been firing its home-made drones deep into Russia for months, but the US weapons are more destructive. Officials in Ukraine have said they need the capability to hit the airbases and aircraft Russia uses for glide-bomb and missile attacks.

US officials have said the ATACMS weapons can be used only in the “specific and limited” of Kursk, near the border separating the two warring countries. Washington cited the presence of North Korean troops in Ukraine as justification for allowing the use of its weapons.

Asked about whether the updated doctrine was deliberately issued on the heels of the US decision to ease restrictions on Ukraine using its longer-range missiles to strike Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the document was published “in a timely manner” and that Mr Putin instructed the government to update it earlier this year so that it is “in line with the current situation”.

“The Russian Federation retains the right to use nuclear weapons in the case of aggression using conventional weapons against it” that poses a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity, Mr Peskov said, according to the state-run Tass news service.

With only two months left in office, experts say US President Joe Biden's priority is to do what he can to put Ukraine in the best possible position before making way for president-elect Donald Trump, who has said he can end the war in a day.

US Treasuries, the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, typical havens during times of geopolitical strife, rose. The German 10-year yield fell as much as eight basis points to its lowest since October.

Ukraine is still losing territory, currently at its highest rate since Russia invaded in February 2022, although this is at a high cost, with Moscow losing a record daily average of 1,500 dead or wounded so far this month.

An overnight Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy gutted a Soviet-era resident building and killed at least nine people, including a child. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published images of rescue workers hauling bodies from the debris and called on Kyiv's allies to “force” the Kremlin into peace.

The Foreign Ministry echoed Mr Zelenskyy's comments in a statement marking the anniversary by calling on allies to increase their military support to bring about a “sustainable” end to the war.

“Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law,” the ministry said. “We need peace through strength, not appeasement,” the ministry added, referring to growing calls for Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table with Russia to end the war.