MOSCOW (AFP): Russia on Saturday said it had downed four US-made ATACMS long-range missiles recently supplied by Washington to Kviv over the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
The defence ministry said it had “foiled” the night attack but did not specify if the falling debris had caused any damage.
In April, the United States confirmed it had sent these missiles to Ukraine, which had been pressing for them to strike targets way beyond the front line.
Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles against Russia for the first time in October, but the recently supplied versions have a farther range of up to 300 kilometres (190 miles).
Russia insists these missiles will not fundamentally change the outcome of the conflict.
Ukrainian forces have been suffering from ammunition shortages, partly due to months-long delays in US deliveries, which were lifted only last month after Congress finally approved an aid package.
Earlier, the Kremlin slammed fresh comments by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he repeated that the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out.
In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, Macron said the question of sending Western troops to Ukraine would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv made such a request.
Moscow has reacted with fury to previous suggestions the West could deploy forces to support Kyiv, casting it as evidence of NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict and its hostile and aggressive stance towards Russia.
“The statement is very important and very dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
Macron “continues to constantly talk about the possibility of direct involvement on the ground in the conflict around Ukraine. This is a very dangerous trend,” he added.
Several NATO countries, including the United States, were quick to push back in February when Macron first said Paris had not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine.
Peskov also said remarks by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron that justified Kyiv striking targets inside Russia were “dangerous” and “escalatory”.
In a visit to Kyiv on Thursday, Cameron said Ukraine “absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia” and that London did not put “caveats” on how Ukrainian forces use weapons supplied by Britain.
Kyiv has hit a number of energy sites inside Russia in recent months, using drones packed with explosives to strike oil refineries and depots hundreds of kilometres behind the front lines.
Ukraine says its hits are justified retribution for Moscow’s attacks, and that they target a source of fuel and revenue for the Russian army.
Peskov said the recent statements by Macron and Cameron “potentially pose a danger to European security, to the entire European security architecture”.
“We see a dangerous tendency towards escalation in official statements. This is raising our concern,” he added.
