Ukraine Launches First ATACMS Strike On Russia and Vladimir Putins signs law allowing expanded use of nuclear weapons
M57A1 Army Tactical Missile System missile (U.S. Army photo)
Relatively quickly after getting permission from US President Joe Biden, Ukraine has attacked Russia using US Army missiles such as the type shown in the photo above:
Ukraine Uses Western-Supplied ATACMS For First Time Inside Russia
19 November 2024
Ukraine’s military has hit a target inside Russia for the first time with Western-supplied ATACMS ballistic missiles, targeting a border region military facility, according to a Ukrainian military source.
“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,” an informed source from the Ukraine Defense Forces told RBC-Ukraine, the outlet reported Tuesday. …
The strike was the first known attack using Western ATACMS after President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday said it has agreed that Ukraine would be allowed to use weapons provided by the United States to hit targets inside Russian territory, a drastic change from U.S. policy.
The Ukrainian military source said the missiles were used to target a military facility near the city of Karachev, located in the Bryansk region of Russia. The target was approximately 115 kilometers (71 miles) from Ukraine’s border. …
The hit came as Russian President Vladimir Putin approved an updated doctrine Tuesday lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/ukraine-russia-atacms/2024/11/19/id/1188598/
19 November 2024
The West appears to be working towards escalating the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said following reports that US-made ATACMS missiles were used in an attack on Russia’s Bryansk Region.
Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Ukrainian military had launched six long-range ATACMS missiles on the border region, noting that five of them had been intercepted by Russian air-defense systems, while another was damaged and hit the ground near a military base.
The attack comes after US President Joe Biden reportedly authorized the use of American-supplied weapons for strikes deep inside Russia …
Lavrov stressed that Moscow perceives the launch of long-range missiles controlled by the US as a qualitatively new phase of the war on the part of the West.
He also stated that while Russia remains committed to preventing a nuclear war, the West should closely examine Moscow’s amended nuclear doctrine, which was signed into force by Putin on Tuesday.
“I hope that they [in the West] will read this doctrine. And not the way they read the UN Charter, seeing only what they need, but the doctrine in its entirety and interconnectedness,” Lavrov said.
According to Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine, Moscow will have the option of deploying its weapons of mass destruction if it comes under attack from a non-nuclear state that is being backed by a nuclear one. https://www.rt.com/news/607889-west-ukraine-missiles-crisis/
Before the launch, but after Joe Biden authorized it, The Economist posted the following:
Firing American missiles at Russia won’t change Ukraine’s fortunes
18 November 2024
THE NAME of the weapon, designed in the late 1980s, was both an acronym—Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS)—and, when said aloud, an exhortation—“attack ’ems”. But Ukraine could not, in fact, attack ’em—at least not inside Russia, not until November 17th, when American news outlets reported that Joe Biden, America’s president, had changed course and given Ukraine permission to use the advanced long-range missiles on Russian soil. The decision will not dramatically change Ukraine’s flagging fortunes on the front lines, though it will boost morale and strengthen the country’s hand ahead of negotiations pursued by Donald Trump after January 20th. https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/11/18/firing-american-missiles-at-russia-wont-change-ukraines-fortunes
Instead of really helping Ukraine, the launching of the ATACMS is getting Russia to be willing to take stronger and more destructive military actions:
November 19, 2024
As the war in Ukraine entered its 1,000th day Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine stating that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power is considered a joint attack and could trigger a nuclear response.
The proclamation came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use long-range weapons from the U.S. to attack military targets in Russia.
When Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked if the revised doctrine was issued in response to the U.S. authorization, he said it was put forth “in a timely manner” and that Putin wanted it updated to be “in line with the current situation,” the Associated Press reported.
The doctrine states nuclear weapons could be used in case of a massive air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles.
It says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation.”
It doesn’t specify whether such an attack would definitely be met with a nuclear response.
Peskov the aim of the updated policy was to make potential enemies understand the inevitability of retaliation for an attack on Russia or its allies.
It also states that Russia could use nuclear weapons if another country attacks ally Belarus. https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-broadens-conditions-for-using-nuclear-weapons-/7868964.html
19 November 2024
Moscow’s revised nuclear doctrine permits retaliatory strikes against NATO for the kind of attacks that US President Joe Biden reportedly authorized last week, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has warned.
Washington has reportedly granted Kiev permission to use ATACMS ballistic missiles deep inside Russian territory. Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, warned on Tuesday that such actions would qualify as a threat warranting a nuclear response under the new doctrine, which President Vladimir Putin enacted earlier in the day.
In response to such an attack, “Russia reserves the right to retaliate with weapons of mass destruction against Kiev and key NATO facilities, wherever they may be located,” Medvedev said.
“This would amount to World War III,” he added. https://www.rt.com/russia/607870-medvedev-nuclear-doctrine-nato/
I reported here yesterday that some suggested that Joe Biden is risking WWIII with his decision to allow Ukraine to attack Russian territory with US missiles (see Did Joe Biden push to start to WWIII with Russia before Donald Trump takes office?).
Russia has called its military actions in Ukraine a ‘Special Military Operation,’ and not a war. Russia did want to destroy Ukraine, but the more Ukraine hits Russian territory, the more Russia is considering taking stronger military actions–and perhaps including nuclear ones. Russia could obliterate Kiev, to cite one example, in less than an hour from any time it chooses.
Furthermore, if Ukraine’s leader thinks launching ATACMS is going to push Russia out of Ukraine, he is in error.
Russia is going to have parts of Ukraine support it — that is something that I have warned about for years.
Notice something I posted here in 2019 (see ‘Putin in Crimea as Russia Marks Five Years Since Annexation’ the ‘Kings of the Medes’ will arise –which was also based on 2014 posts) regarding Ukraine, Crimea, Russia, and prophecies related to the Medes:
Back in 2013 there were protests against the democratically elected government in Ukraine. Instead of backing Ukraine’s elected president, the USA backed a coup. A few months later, when Ukraine’s coup government took over in early 2014, one of the first things it did was to pass a bill (that ended up not being signed into law) to make Russian a second-class language in Ukraine. That incensed those in Crimea and various ones in the eastern portion of Ukraine, as many in those regions speak Russian as their native language.
So in 2014, Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia. Russia later accepted the territory, which it had long wanted. Crimea has been a fairly poor region that felt neglected and discriminated against by the western portion of Ukraine.
Many of those in Crimea (other than the Tartars) believed that they would be better off with Russia who wanted them than Kiev who claims to want to keep them, but apparently had not shown them enough signs that it would truly be able to help them.
On March 18, 2014, Putin signed a treaty to make Crimea part of Russia (https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-to-visit-crimea-to-mark-five-years-since-peninsula-rejoined-russia/29826559.html).
The USA would not accept the vote by the Crimeans primarily because it seems to want to stop Russia from expanding. The USA pushed for international sanctions, many of which still remain, in an effort to hope Russia would release Crimea to Ukraine.
The USA’s position seemed to be based mainly on politics as opposed to its professed belief in democracy.
Are there any prophetic implications to what has been happening?
There looks to be, if we can identify the ancient identities of some modern people.
As it turns out, certain records of history indicate that some of the ‘Medes’ dwell in Russia as well as in Ukraine and other parts of the east–like Crimea itself.
In the first century, Josephus wrote:
Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia…they called the nations by their own names…Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks… Thobel founded the Thobelites, who are now called Iberes; and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch…And so many were the countries that had the children of Japhet for their inhabitants. (Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. VI, 1).
As far as the Medes go, they were once in a land called Media, which was near Persia (modern Iran). The Bible uses the terms “Medes” and “Persians” together five times in the NKJV (e.g. Daniel 5:28). The ancient empire of Media contained Persia, but did not go all the way to the land now known as Ukraine.
The Median empire, around 600 B.C. stretched west from the southern center of the Black Sea (Crimea would have been north of that empire, but would have been accessible by a boat that would head straight north in the western portion) and went east almost to India. But there were also various migrations of peoples, which is why it is believed that at least some made it into the area of Ukraine and/or Crimea (and likely Russia itself as well as some of the nearby states). There were also descendants of Israel who were living in the land of the Medes at the time of Jesus. Notice the following account from the New Testament, circa 31 A.D.:
8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. (Acts 2:8-11)
So, there were contacts from the descendants of Israel and the Medes in New Testament times.
The Medes and the Russians seem to have shared some history. But it is not clear to many. Notice the following:
The history of the Medes is dark and unknown. — Dmitri Ivanovich Ilovaisky …
In linguistic terms, the Russians are identified as East Slavs, that is, speakers of East Slavic, which eventually evolved into three distinct languages: Greater Russian, often simply called Russian; Ukrainian; and White Russian, or Belorussian (Belarus).
(Riasanovsky NV. Russian Identities : A Historical Survey: A Historical Survey. Oxford University Press, 2005, p.7)
The above is at the beginning of the first chapter in the book cited on the origins of the Russians and Ukrainians. The author, a professor of history emeritus from UC Berkeley.
It should be noted that part of the reason that Dmitri Ivanovich Ilovaisky and others are unclear about the connection is because of multiple migrations or peoples with differing names.
As far as names go, the historian Herodotus claimed that there were six different tribes/families of Medes. Herodotus identified the tribes of the Medes as Busae, Parataceni/Paratakeni, Struchates/Strukhates, Arizanti, Budii, and the Magi (Herodotus: A New and Literal Version with a Geographical and General Index by Henry Cary. Histories, book 1, chapter 101. Translated by Henry Cary. Harper, 1896. Original from the University of Virginia, Digitized Jan 23, 2009, p. 46).
Here is one report about the six tribes:
- The Busae group is thought to derive from the Persian term buza meaning indigenous (i.e. not Iranian). Whether this was based on an originally Iranian term, or their own name, is unknown.
- The second group is called the Paraetaceni, or Parae-tak-(eni) in Persian, and denotes nomadic inhabitants of the mountains of Paraetacene. This name recalls the Scythian Para-la-ti, the people of Kolaxis, believed to represent the common people in general, but whom Herodotus calls the “Royal Scythians”.
- The third group is called Strukhat.
- The fourth group is the Arizanti, whose name is derived from the words Arya (noble), and Zantu (tribe, clan).
- The fifth group were the Budii, found also among the Black Sea Scythians as Budi-ni. Buddha was of the tribe Budha, the Saka (eastern Scythian) form of the name.
- The sixth tribe were the Magi…They were a hereditary caste of priests of the Zurvanism religion that evolved out of Zoroastrianism. The name Magi implies a link with the Sumerians, who called their language Emegir, over time becoming simplified to Magi. Hungarian tradition also traces pre-European Magyar (Hungarian) ancestry back to the Magi. In time, the Sumerian-influenced religion of the Magi was suppressed in favour of a more purely Iranian form of Zoroastrianism, itself evolved from its somewhat dualist beginnings into the monotheistic faith that it is today (also known as Parsi-ism). (History of the Medes. http://www.taroscopes.com/miscellanous-pages/medes.html viewed 08/31/14)
As far as the Russians and Ukrainians go, the late Dr. Herman Hoeh wrote:
Origin of Word “Russia”
What is the origin of the word “Russian” — the “Rosh” of Ezekiel 38:2 (when properly translated)?
The INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA gives the answer. Here, under the article “Rosh”, we find that a vast area of the Mesopotamian Valley was called “the land of Rashu!” The word “Russ” or “Rosh” means blonde. And in ancient Mesopotamia lived the blonde children of Keturah and Abraham mentioned in Genesis 25:1-6. They founded the Kingdom of Mitanni, named after Midian and Medan.In modern times the name “Russ” was first applied to Russia because of the blond people of White Russia who live next to the people of Meshech and Tubal. (See ENCY. BRIT., art. “Russia”.) These blonds are quite different from the Great Russians. The White Russians are related to the Asshurim of North Germany and to the Letushim and other Abrahamic tribes along the Baltic. They are the main body of the people of Medan and Midian who proceeded north into Russia centuries ago! Herodotus mentions that the “Matienians” from the land of Rosh were associated with the people of Meshech and Tubal! (Thalia, 94.) And Pliny the Roman natural historian speaks of the “Matiani” as moving into Russia through the Caucasus (BK. VI, sec. xviii of NATURAL HISTORY). That is the true origin of the word “Russian”.And Little Russians, too!
Not all Russians are Great Russians and White Russians. Some are called “Little Russians”. They live — in the Ukraine and the eastern parts of Romania and Poland. They are often called Ukrainians or Ruthenians. There are about 50 million of them! Who are these people?
The MEDES! The sons of Madai! Here is the proof!
In Genesis 10:2 we have Madai, the son of Japheth listed. Now check in an exhaustive concordance. You will find the original Hebrew word translated into English as “Mede” or “Median” is always Madai. Madai is the father of the Medes. The Medes used to be associated with the Persians. You will read about them especially in the book of Daniel. But by the time of Nehemiah the Persians were much more prominent. Today there are no Medes left in Persia. The Medes are gone. Certainly a great branch of the human family could not suddenly vanish from the earth!Indeed they did not. Throughout South Russia — in the Ukraine — four centuries before Christ the Medes were beginning to settle. Here is what the historian Herodotus wrote of these people: “They say that they are a colony of the Medes. How they can have been a colony of the Medes I cannot compehend; but anything may happen in course of time” (Terpsichore, 9).
Herodotus, like many moderns, was prone to believe that the people who inhabited Mesopotamia and the “Bible lands” must be living there today. But they are not. The Arabs have taken their place!
The fact that the Medes are the Little Russians today is further amplified by Pliny in his NATURAL HISTORY, bk. VI, sec. xi. He mentions “the river Don, where the inhabitants are… said to be descended from the Medes”!
Media is pictured along with Elam in Eastern Europe as attacking Western Europe in World War III (Isaiah 21:2). (Hoeh H. The TRUTH about the Race Question! Plain Truth, July 1957)
It should also be noted that some others do not believe that Russia or Moscow are close enough to the words in the Bible that some believe they came from. But, the Russian people did descend from one of the sons of Noah and the lands that they possess are mentioned in certain scriptures.
Some of the Russians themselves appear to have been from the Medes. Notice the following account:
But how are we to explain the name Russia? The old-fashioned view was to derive the word from the Rhoxolani. This, however, has long been abandoned. One thing is certain, namely, that these Rhoxolani were of Oriental descent, a Medic or Iranic tribe. They disappear from history, having, like so many other tribes — as, for instance, the Pechenegs and the Khozars—been swallowed up by the huge waves of immigration which overflowed the country (Morfill WR. Russia. Published 1890 by T.F. Unwin, London).
There are many disputes among academics as to who derived from whom, thus it is not completely clear, for example, that the Rhoxolani were Medes who went to Russia. The Bible has several end time prophecies concerning the Medes (Isaiah 13:17-19) and the kings of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11, 28-29) that involve military action. Various ones in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Russia, and elsewhere are part of the descendants of the Medes, as likely are some in Moldova.
However, if the Rhoxolani were Medes, then it would seem to be consistent with certain biblical prophecies.
Though Russia continues to indicate it wants closer cooperation with Europe, the time will come that those that are ‘kings of the Medes’ will determine that the power in Europe is not one that they wish to be part of.
Notice that the Bible teaches that the ‘kings of the Medes’ will one day turn against the final end time Babylon power, which will be based in Europe:
1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw…
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:1, 17-19)11 Make the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11)This will ultimately not end well for Europe, but is not to occur until nearly 3 1/2 years after the start of the Great Tribulation. Notice that this will involve a people from the north (Russia is the only major power north of much of Europe):
50:41 “Behold, a people shall come from the north, And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance;
They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.43 “The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in childbirth…”(Jeremiah 50:41-43).8 O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,
Happy the one who repays you as you have served us! 9 Happy the one who takes and dashes
Your little ones against the rock! (Psalms 137:8-9)It remains my view that Crimea and at least parts of eastern Ukraine will ultimately align with Russia.
International sanctions will not stop biblical prophecies from being fulfilled.
Since that was posted, Russia began its special military operation into Ukraine. Even more international sanctions were imposed on Russia.
Sanctions did not stop Russia–instead it has militarily pushed for more territories.
Furthermore, after holding referendums, Russia annexed additional parts of eastern Ukraine:
On 30 September 2022, Russia, amid an ongoing invasion of Ukraine, unilaterally declared its annexation of areas in and around four Ukrainian oblasts – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The boundaries of the areas to be annexed and their borders were not defined; Russian officials stated that they would be defined later. …
On 20 September, the authorities of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, as well as the occupation administrations of Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast, announced referendums on joining Russia on 23–27 September.[18]
On 27 September, Russian officials claimed that the accession “referendum” in Zaporizhzhia Oblast passed, with 93.11% of voters in favour of joining the Russian Federation.[19]
… On 30 September, Putin signed accession treaties with the four pro-Russian leaders of the regions, Leonid Pasechnik, Head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Yevgeny Balitsky, governor of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Volodymyr Saldo, governor of the Kherson Oblast.[26] The exact boundaries of the territories declared annexed were however not legally defined, with the drafts of final annexation documents recursively referring to territories “on the day of the admission to the Russian Federation” and on the day of “the formation of a new constituent entity within the Russian Federation”, both being prospective future events.[26] (Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Wikipedia, accessed 04/06/23)
Russia may negotiate the borders of the annexed regions. However, Russia has no intentions of giving up Crimea or various parts of eastern Ukraine.
The attacking of Russian territory with US missiles is not going to change that.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy as are two video sermonettes Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy and Ukraine in Prophecy?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Ezekiel 38: For Russia & Iran in Our Day? Is Ezekiel 38 about to be fulfilled? Are we close to the battle with Gog and Magog? Four related videos are available: Ezekiel 38 Gog and Magog War: Is it Soon?, Ezekiel 38: For Russia, Ukraine, & Iran Now?, Russia, Iran, Syria, & the Bible (Code), and Gog, Magog, Vladimir Putin, and Ezekiel 38?
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon; When Will the End of the Age Come?; Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
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