Russian President Vladimir Putin assured on Wednesday that long-range missiles placed by the United States in Ukraine will only “continue the agony” of the country, and Kyiv hopes that the weapons will help speed up its heavy counteroffensive, La Libre reported, citing La Libre. Radio Radio Romania.

On Tuesday, Washington announced that it had secretly supplied Ukrainian forces with ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles with a range of 100 miles (165 km) so they could bomb Russian bases from behind.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the first successful use of this weapon on Tuesday. Its special forces claimed responsibility for devastating strikes on Russian airfields in the occupied territory on the same day.

Vladimir Putin assessed that the delivery of these missiles, which Kiev has been demanding for months, will not change the course of the war, once again convinced that the so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive has cut its teeth into the Russian defense.

“The main thing is that (these missiles) will not radically change the situation on the contact line, it is impossible,” the Russian president said at a press conference in Beijing following the results of his visit to China. “Nothing good will happen for Ukraine. The agony will continue,” he added, assessing that Washington made a “mistake” in this way.

Exacerbation in Avdiivka

According to him, the supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine shows “that the US is increasingly involved in this conflict.”

For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that the West’s supply of missiles, F-16 aircraft and armored vehicles to Kiev next year forces Russia to “strengthen its western borders.” The Ukrainian army is already intensifying attacks in the border areas.

Ukraine, which forced Moscow into humiliating retreats in 2022, launched a counteroffensive in June to free about 20 percent of Russian-controlled territory that Moscow claims to annex.

Kyiv believes its troops are making progress, but that progress is slow because the West is too hesitant to deliver the weapons the country needs.

In addition, the Russian army launched its own offensives on Kupyansk (northeast), and from October 10 – on the city of Avdiyivka (east).

Russian troops are trying to surround the industrial city of Avdiivka at the cost of heavy losses.

According to Mayor Vitaly Barabash, if the situation is more “calm” in recent days, it is because Moscow is preparing a new attack after the one stopped by the Ukrainians.

“This is not the end of this story (…) for now (Ukrainian) resistance has stabilized the situation,” but “in the coming days we expect an escalation,” he added.

Avdiyivka, an industrial city in Donbas, was practically on the front line long before the Russian invasion in February 2022. Moscow-led separatist forces have tried in vain to seize it since 2014.

The city, built around a large coking plant, is located 13 km north of Donetsk, the Russian-controlled “capital” of the region of the same name, which Putin claims to annex.

According to the mayor’s office, about 1,600 civilians remain in the city, which had 30,000 people before the invasion in February 2014.

At the same time, Russia continues its nightly bombing of Ukrainian cities. Kyiv expects this campaign to escalate, as it did last winter, when the Russian military bombed the country’s energy infrastructure to plunge the population into darkness and cold.

From Tuesday to Wednesday, as a result of strikes in the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk region, at least three people died.

“They slept there”

“The evil state (Russian, ed.) continues to use terror and wage war against civilians,” President Zelenskyy complained on X (ex-Twitter).

In Zaporizhzhia, the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors of a residential building were destroyed by a S-300 rocket, at least two people were killed. Three more are still under the rubble.

Olga Nenets, 67 years old, lives in the affected house. He has little hope that the missing will be found alive. “The dead are probably neighbors of 4. A young couple.

Their room overlooked the boulevard, they slept there. And we don’t know anything about the neighbors on 5, they say they are missing, but they were in their apartment, their car is there,” she says, looking at the destroyed building.

For its part, Kyiv has also stepped up its drone attacks in recent weeks far behind enemy lines, in Russian territory.

Russia also claimed to have shot down 28 between Tuesday and Wednesday over the border areas of Kursk and Belgorod, as well as in the Black Sea.

La Libre (the passion of Radio Romania)