Ukraine's newly-supplied US weapon won't change war's outcome: Putin

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FE Team | Published: October 19, 2023 21:51:18

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KYIV, Oct 19 (AP/AFP): A Russian missile attack killed two civilians in an apartment building in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, local authorities said, as President Vladimir Putin dismissed the importance of a new U.S.-supplied weapon that Kyiv used to execute one of the most damaging attacks on the Kremlin's air assets since the start of the war.
Putin told reporters that Russia "will be able to repel" further attacks by the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS.
Ukraine claimed it used those missiles to destroy nine Russian helicopters, as well as ammunition, an air defense system and other assets at two airfields in Russia-occupied regions on Tuesday.
That development came as the two sides looked to gain battlefield advantages and consolidate their positions ahead of the winter when the weather would hamper operations.
The ATACMS will shift the battlefield layout to some degree as Russia will need to disperse its aircraft and ammunition depots. It had used aircraft to stop Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive.
Putin, speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing, conceded the ATACMS creates an additional threat but he insisted that the weapon would not change the situation along the 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front line.
"For Ukraine, in this sense, there's nothing good ... it only prolongs the agony," he said.
Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, described Washington's decision to supply the ATACMS as "reckless" and "a grave mistake" that won't alter the war's outcome.
The fighting has ground largely to a stalemate, with a protracted war of attrition expected at least through next year.
The U.K. defense ministry said Wednesday that the Kremlin's forces are currently trying to push forward in some parts of eastern Ukraine. However, the areas are well defended and it is "highly unlikely" the Russians will accomplish their goal of a major breakthrough, it said in an assessment posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Wednesday's attack killed two Ukrainian civilians and wounded at least three others when a Russian missile struck a building in the central district of the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, the region's Gov. Yurii Malashko said.
Two killed in Russian
strike on Ukraine
Two people died and one was injured when a Russian missile hit an eatery in Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region late Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service said the missile had struck a "food establishment" in a residential area in the region at 8:30 pm (1730 GMT).
"Two people died and one person was injured under the rubble," it said on Telegram.
"As a result of the impact, residential buildings and an agricultural enterprise were also damaged," it added.
The governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, wrote earlier on the messaging app that the missile had struck in Stepove, a small village located around 45 kilometres (28 miles) northwest of the city of Mykolaiv.
He said one of those killed was a woman. "The rescuers dislodged her body from under the rubble of the destroyed building," he wrote.