Ukraine launched a major attack against Russian-held positions that included at least nine U.S. ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) and an estimated 60 drones.
Six drones crashed near the grounds of an oil refinery in Slavyansk, located in Russia's southern region of Krasnodar, shutting down its operations, while three drones were shot over the Belgorod region, according to the Interfax news agency.
The ATACMS missiles were launched over Crimea, which has seen an uptick in attacks since Russian President Vladimir Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Kyiv vowing to reclaim the territory.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said it destroyed the ATACMS, as well as "One UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] over the territory of the Republic of Crimea, three UAVs over Belgorod Oblast, and destroyed or jammed 57 UAVs over Krasnodar Krai".
Ukraine said it used them to destroy a Russian S-300 air-defense system in an attack on the Belbek airfield in Crimea last week.
Former Aidar battalion commander Yevhen Dykyi said on Thursday: "The strikes on Belbek are invigorating ATACMS—the same 300-kilometer [186-mile] ATACMS that we have been demanding from [President Joe] Biden for so long, and that he finally gave in to."
This is according to The New Voice of Ukraine's translation of Dykyi's interview with Radio NV.
It comes as Ukraine said it took down 37 Shahed-131/136 attack drones launched by Russia on the night of May 17.
They were said to have been destroyed over Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kherson after being sent from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk areas in Russia.
This is according to the Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, who posted about the attack on Telegram.
He said: "Fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft missile troops of the air force, mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, and electronic warfare units were involved in repelling the Russian air attack,"
Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said 20 of the drones were destroyed in the region.
He wrote on Telegram: "An administrative building in Odesa district was damaged by falling debris. In Odesa, the debris fell into the yard of a residential area. Fortunately, there were no injuries." No casualties have been reported in any regions.
Meanwhile, a special Ukrainian border guard unit called Phoenix reportedly destroyed a Russian ammunition storage unit in the Bakhmut sector.
The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service wrote on its website: "At night, with the help of the Vampire [drone], border guards destroyed an ammunition depot, Ural and UAZ vehicles, and hit the positions and shelters of the occupiers. The enemy will not hide from the Phoenix."
In March, the U.S. urged Ukraine to stop striking Russian energy infrastructure over concerns about escalation and driving up global oil prices, according to The Financial Times which quoted "three people familiar with discussions."
The U.S. National Security Council told the newspaper at the time: "We do not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not respond directly to the article but he was recently quoted by Pravda as hitting out against the U.S. for imposing restrictions on their weapons.
He reportedly said: "I do not think that there should be any prohibitions because this is not about the Ukrainian offensive using Western weapons on the territory of Russia.
"This is defense. It's just like the preventive sanctions we discussed before the full-scale invasion. This is the same thing. This is a warning [to Russia]. They have almost no civilians on their side of the border. For obvious reasons."
Correction, 5/20/24, 4:30 a.m. ET: This article and its headline were updated to clarify where the ATACMS strikes took place.