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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Footage on social media purported to show the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike on an air base in Russia that Moscow said involved Kyiv's use of U.S.-made ballistic missiles.
Russia said that Kyiv had used six U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles in striking the airfield in the city of Taganrog, in Russia's southern Rostov region on the Azov Sea, a site located around 100 miles from the frontline of the war in Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry said two ATACMS missiles were shot down or deflected by electronic warfare systems, but that falling debris had caused injuries.
ATACMS missiles cost around $1 million each and Kyiv hasn't confirmed their use in the attack. Social media channels, like pro-Ukrainian Telegram account Politics of the Country, said that Palyanytsia drone missiles had been launched.
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The Astra Telegram channel reported that the strike on the military unit where Russia's 5th Aviation Brigade was stationed had wounded dozens of soldiers and that at least one person had been killed.
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Following the strikes, reported on Wednesday morning, a clip posted on the Astra Telegram channel and shared by X account War Translated shows an unidentified man walking through the rubble of a building's interior.
"It's all blown away," the man said as he shone a torch on upended shelves and bricks on the floor, "brothers we don't know right now. This is s***."
Newsweek has been unable to verify the video and has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.
Days after the Biden administration dropped restrictions on Ukraine using longer-range ATACMS to strike inside Russian territory, Vladimir Putin bragged about the capabilities of the Oreshnik. Putin had warned that any ATACMS fired into Russia signaled "direct involvement" of the West in an armed conflict with Moscow.
Since then, Russia has reported it had shot down at least 15 ATACMS missiles and said Kyiv's use of Western-made missiles meant the "direct involvement" of the West in an armed conflict with Russia.
Russia's defense ministry said Wednesday's attack could prompt the launch of another Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile at Ukraine, as on November 21 on the city of Dnipro, and that the strike "by Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered and appropriate measures will be taken."
Putin has said that the Oreshnik's destructive capabilities and its hypersonic speed, which can evade missile defense systems, means it could replace the need for nuclear weapons.
The Associated Press said an unnamed U.S. official said Moscow could launch another hypersonic ballistic missile in Ukraine in the coming days, although it did not consider the Oreshnik a game changer, but rather "an attempt at intimidation."
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