Russia vowed on Saturday to retaliate after it accused Ukraine of firing US-supplied ATACMS missiles into the Belgorod border region the previous day.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden authorized kyiv to use long-range weapons against Russia last year, in a move the Kremlin denounced as a serious escalation of the nearly three-year conflict.
“On January 3, an attempt was made from Ukrainian territory to launch a missile attack against the Belgorod region using American-made ATACMS operational tactical missiles,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“These actions of the kyiv regime, which has the support of Western conservatives, will be retaliated against,” he added, stating that all the missiles were shot down.
The ministry previously said air defenses shot down eight ATACMS missiles in total, without saying when or where.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last year to attack central kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile if Ukraine continued attacking Russian territory with long-range Western weapons.
US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview last month that he was “very vehemently” opposed to Ukraine's use of such weapons, which he said were “escalating” the conflict.
Both kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of deadly attacks on civilians since the start of the year.
A Russian attack on a village in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday killed a 74-year-old man, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it had captured the Ukrainian village of Nadiia, one of the few settlements in the eastern Luhansk region still under kyiv's control.
Moscow will advance nearly 4,000 square kilometers (1,540 square miles) into Ukraine in 2024, according to a AFP analysis, as the Kyiv army struggled with chronic manpower shortages and exhaustion.
