Ukraine launches biggest attack of war so far, Kiev claims

Ukraine fires US, and British missiles into Russia, launches one of largest drone attacks so far

Ukraine on Tuesday attacked multiple targets inside Russia in what it described as the "largest" attack of the war so far. Ukraine said the attacks were aimed at ammunition depots and chemical plants, some hundreds of kilometers from the border. The General Staff claimed it struck targets up to 1,100 km (700 miles) from the border.

Sources in Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency told the BBC the overnight attack was a "painful blow" to Russia's ability to wage war.

Russia says it shot down US-supplied Attax missiles as well as UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and vowed to respond to the attack.

The Ukrainian attack temporarily halted traffic at least nine airports in central and western Russia, while the strikes forced the closure of schools in the southwestern Saratov region.

The attacks in the border region of Bryansk caused explosions at a refinery, ammunition depot and a chemical plant said to make gunpowder and explosives, according to the BBC. In the western region of Saratov, authorities reported a "massive" drone strike.

Last week, Kyiv said it had attacked an oil storage facility in Engels - leading to days of efforts to control the fire and Busargin declaring a state of emergency.

Moscow (Reuters) - 

After Kyiv launched one of the largest drone strikes to date and fired six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles and six UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles against Russian territories, Russia's military declared on Tuesday that it would strike back at Ukraine.
On November 21, Moscow launched a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile called "Oreshnik," or Hazel Tree, towards Ukraine in retaliation for Ukraine's initial launch of British Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles into Russia last year.

Russia's defense ministry claimed to have destroyed 146 drones outside the conflict zone and all of the Western missiles that Ukraine had launched into the Bryansk region. Over the Black Sea, it reported that two more Storm Shadows had been shot down.