(CNN) — Russia has vowed retaliation after claiming to have shot down eight US-made ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine on Saturday morning. Moscow sees the use of such missiles, which have a range of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles), as a major escalation.

The Kremlin on Saturday vowed "retaliation" for what it said was Ukraine's use of American-made Army Tactical Missile Systems against targets in a Russian border region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened that the Kremlin would respond with its nuclear-capable ballistic missile ‘Oreshnik’ against Ukraine’s usage of ATACMS missiles.

The Kremlin responded to an attempted missile strike on the border territory of Belgorod, which Russia blamed as much on the U.S. for authorizing ATACMS use.

The ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday morning, including three over the northern Leningrad region. St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures on Saturday morning.

Russia has pledged to retaliate after it claimed to have shot down eight US-supplied ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine at its border region of Belgorod. “On January 3, an attempt was made from Ukrainian territory to launch a missile attack against the Belgorod region using US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles,

Russian forces reported shooting down eight U.S.-made ATACMS missiles and 72 drones launched by Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry did not report any casualties or damage from the attacks. ATACMS missiles,