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Pentagon refrains from commenting on Ukraine’s missile attack on Bryansk region

Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh also declined a request to comment on the US permission to use ATACMS missiles for deep strikes on Russia

© Grigory Sapozhnikov/TASS

WASHINGTON, November 20. /TASS/. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh refrained from commenting on Ukraine’s strike with ATACMS missiles on Russia’s Bryansk Region during a daily briefing.

“I don’t have a comment on that,” she said.

Singh also declined a request to comment on the US permission to use ATACMS missiles for deep strikes on Russia.

On November 17, the New York Times reported, citing sources, that US President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles for deeper strikes inside Russia. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols later confirmed this information. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said some EU countries also authorized the use of their weapons for deeper strikes inside Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that on Monday night into Tuesday, Ukraine attacked Russia’s borderline Bryansk Region with six ATACMS missiles. Five of them were shot down by Russia’s Pantsir and S-400 missile defense systems and one was damaged. The missiles crashed on the premises of a military facility in the Bryansk Region, causing a fire that was promptly put out. “There were no casualties or damage,” the ministry noted.

At a press conference following the Group of Twenty summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on the incident, said that Ukraine’s strikes on the Bryansk Region using ATACMS missiles are a sign that the West is trying to escalate the situation, as such strikes are impossible without American help.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned afterward that Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine stipulates a potential nuclear strike in response to Ukraine’s use of Western-made conventional missiles against Russia. Earlier, he described the West’s latest decision as a “qualitatively new” round of escalation.

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