Russia vows response after it says ATACMS missiles targeted Belgorod

Russia has vowed to retaliate after it accused Ukraine of firing US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the border region of Belgorod the previous day.

"On January 3, an attempt was made from Ukrainian territory to launch a missile strike against the Belgorod region using US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles," the Russian defence ministry said on Saturday.

"These actions by the Kiev regime, which is supported by Western curators, will be met with retaliation," it added, saying all the missiles were shot down.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden authorised Kiev to use long-range weapons against Russia last year, in a move the Kremlin denounced as a grave escalation of the nearly three-year conflict.

The ministry said earlier that air defences downed eight ATACMS missiles in total, without saying when or where.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last year to strike central Kiev with a hypersonic ballistic missile if Ukraine continued hitting Russian territory with long-range Western weapons.

'Escalating' the conflict

US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview last month he was "very vehemently" opposed to Ukraine using the arms, which he said were " escalating" the conflict.

Both Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of fatal attacks on civilians since the year began.

A Russian strike on a village in Ukraine's northeast Kharkiv region earlier on Saturday killed a 74-year-old man, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday it had captured the Ukrainian village of Nadiia, one of the few settlements in the eastern Lugansk region still under Kiev's control.

Moscow advanced by almost 4,000 square kilometres (1,540 square miles) in Ukraine in 2024, according to an AFP analysis, as Kiev's army struggled with chronic manpower shortages and exhaustion.