The theme song for this article, as alluded to in the title:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI02_UJ1C6I.
With the Ukraine now firing long-range missiles deep within Russia, Putin spokesman Serey Markov said toBBC Radio 4:
"My reaction [to the White House's decision] was awful, I couldn't sleep well because I am just afraid nuclear war is coming.
"This decision of United States, Great Britain and France is not a step towards nuclear war it is a big jump to nuclear war, nuclear catastrophe.
"It is a very dangerous decision. The point is these rocket-missiles cannot be fired by the Ukrainian army, technically.
"Because, these rocket-missiles need to have very good map of the Russian territory and only the US has this map, even Great Britain and France does not have this map."
Under the revised nuclear doctrine, if Russia sees these missiles as posing n existential threat it will use nukes, possibly first against the Ukraine and Britain. At the moment there has not been any significant damage done from six Ukrainian missile strikes, five of which were successfully shot down, one doing little damage. But this moves things to a knife-edge now, with a nuclear exchange more likely at any time.
"Russia warned on Tuesday that it would "react accordingly" after Ukraine fired U.S. longer-range missiles into its territory for the first time, gravely escalating the conflict in the waning days of the Biden regime.
The strike on Russia's Bryansk region was reportedly carried out by U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles (Army Tactical Missile System) just two days after the Biden regime gave Kyiv the go-ahead to use the American weapons against targets inside Russia.
Late Sunday night, the Associated Press reported: "Biden has authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia, easing limitations on the longer range weapons."
Russian air defenses said they shot down five of the missiles and another was damaged. Fragments from the damaged missile fell on the territory of a military facility, causing a fire that has since been extinguished. There were no casualties or damage.
The increased hostilities come amid reports that up to 100,000 North Korean soldiers could join Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had used the missiles against a facility in the Bryansk region close to the border.
"At 03:25 am (0025 GMT), the enemy struck a site in the Bryansk region with six ballistic missiles. According to confirmed data, US-made ATACMS tactical missiles were used," the defense ministry said in a statement.
"We will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia. And we will react accordingly," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference at the G20 summit in Brazil.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declined to confirm or deny the attack during a news conference Tuesday, but appeared to obfuscate where the weapons came from. "Ukraine has long-range capabilities. Ukraine has long-range drones of its own production. We now have a long 'Neptune' (Ukrainian cruise missiles) and not just one. And now we have ATACMS. And we will use all of this."
President Vladimir Putin warned back in September that any "aggression against Russia by any nonnuclear state, but with the support of a nuclear state, is proposed to be considered as their joint attack on Russia."
Putin stated that nuclear retaliation in such a case would be justified. "Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in case of aggression, including if the enemy using conventional weapons poses a critical threat," he said.'
"The US has been given a chilling 'WW3 by Christmas' warning by pro-Putin spokesperson Sergey Markov.
Western allies, also including Britain and France, have taken a "big jump" towards a nuclear conflict by giving Ukraine permission to fire Western long-range missiles into Kremlin territory, Markov claims.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he said: "My reaction [to the White House's decision] was awful, I couldn't sleep well because I am just afraid nuclear war is coming.
"This decision of United States, Great Britain and France is not a step towards nuclear war it is a big jump to nuclear war, nuclear catastrophe.
"It is a very dangerous decision. The point is these rocket-missiles cannot be fired by the Ukrainian army, technically.
"Because, these rocket-missiles need to have very good map of the Russian territory and only the US has this map, even Great Britain and France does not have this map."
Markov added that the targeting of the rocket-missiles cannot be done by the Ukrainian army as it requires satellite-intelligence that the country does not have - instead they will be targeted to Russian cities by American, British and French militaries, he argued.
"So, we regard this as the start of a direct war by Britain, America and France against Russia, another nuclear power.
"Probably you will not be able to say 'Merry Christmas' because you will stay in the hole trying to hide away [your] family from the nuclear catastrophe. It can develop very, very quickly."
"Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has claimed that several Western countries have given Kiev permission to use their long-range missiles against internationally-recognized Russian territory.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that US President Joe Biden had lifted some restrictions on the use of US-provided ATACMS missiles. The White House has neither confirmed nor denied the NYT article, which cited anonymous officials.
"Now that there are relevant decisions, not just in the media, but also from the relevant countries, it is very important to add to these decisions the number of opportunities with which we can reduce the military potential of the Russian Federation, wherever it is," Zelensky said on Tuesday at a press-conference in Kiev.
Speaking alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Zelensky added that Ukraine is now "working to ensure that all countries support long-range capabilities," urging Germany in particular to "take the appropriate decision" as well.
The UK and France have also reportedly lifted restrictions on the use of the long-range missiles they have provided to Kiev, although they haven't confirmed the move either. Germany and Italy have publicly said their policy remained unchanged, however, and that their weapons can only be used on Ukrainian soil.
At least six long-range ATACMS missiles were fired into Russia's Bryansk Region overnight, Moscow's Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday. Five of them were shot down, while debris from one reportedly caused a localized fire at a military base, causing no property damage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that long-range strikes with Western weapons would change the nature of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, making it a direct confrontation between NATO and Moscow.
On Tuesday, Russia officially updated its nuclear deterrence doctrine to authorize an atomic response to conventional attacks from countries backed by nuclear powers. This has been widely interpreted as applying to Ukrainian strikes with weapons supplied by the US, UK and France."
"About a day after President Biden authorized Ukraine to use the long-range US-made MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System to strike deeper into Russian territory, a new report suggests that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have hit a military installation in the western Bryansk region. This comes after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia's nuclear weapons doctrine was changed and signed by President Vladimir Putin, indicating "the use of Western non-nuclear rockets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia can prompt a nuclear response."
"For the first time, Ukraine's Defense Forces struck Russian territory with ATACMS ballistic missiles," RBC Ukraine news agency reported Tuesday.
RBC Ukraine said the military facility near the city of Karachev in the Bryansk region was successfully hit with ATACMS. This location was about 115 kilometers (71 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
"Indeed, for the first time, we used ATACMS to strike Russian territory. The strike was carried out against a facility in the Bryansk region, and it was successfully hit," one source told the local media outlet.
Separately, media outlet Kyiv Post stated the 67th arsenal of the Main Directorate of the Missile and Artillery Directorate of Russia was hit. The facility reportedly had large stockpiles of anti-aircraft missiles, munitions for multiple launch rocket systems, artillery ammunition, and guided bombs, much of which was supplied by North Korea.
Kyiv Post noted:
Russian media sources, including residents on social networks, reported explosions coming from within the Karachev district, and suggesting that a "military base" was being attacked. The Russian Astra Telegram channel shared videos of the incident, while local reports said that there had been strikes on this arsenal in late 2023 and again in June and October this year.
Bloomberg revealed more details about the attack:
Russian Defense Ministry confirmed Ukrainian armed forces launched a strike with US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles at a military object in Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, Interfax reports.
5 missiles were shot down, 1 damaged; no casualties reported
Missile debris caused fire in a military installation
Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that President Vladimir Putin signed new changes to Russia's nuclear weapons doctrine.
Peskov said the new modifications signify "the use of Western non-nuclear rockets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia can prompt a nuclear response."
Peskov's comments were made shortly after President Biden approved Ukraine's use of ATACMS against military targets deep inside Russia.
Additionally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the nuclear doctrine, stating that the threshold for using nuclear weapons has been lowered, during an event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
Lavrov asserted that Russia's position is that nuclear war won't happen, and that fundamentally Russian nuclear doctrine doesn't differ from the United States' - which sees nukes as a 'deterrent'. But still, he added, Russia will "react accordingly" to Ukraine firing a US long-range missile."