Russia claims Ukraine fired US-supplied missiles at Kremlin-controlled Crimea on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring 151 others — and furiously vowed Monday to retaliate against America.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the attack on the city of Sevastopol killed at least two children, with other Russian officials asserting that US military specialists aimed the weapons and provided Ukraine the data to use them.
US Ambassador Lynne Tracy was swiftly summoned Monday to the foreign ministry, where the Kremlin claimed America was “waging a hybrid war against Russia and has actually become a party to the conflict.”
Moscow ultimately warned Tracy that the attack would “not go unpunished” and that “retaliatory measures will definitely follow.”
The war, sparked when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, is considered the biggest escalation between the two global superpowers since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
While the US has greenlit the use of some of its missiles to be fired in Russia, Washington still prohibits Ukraine from hitting the invaders with ATACMS, which have long-range capabilities and are what the Kremlin claims struck Crimea.
Viral footage uploaded by the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom shows beachgoers in Sevastopol suddenly flee the area as explosions are heard in the background.
The embassy echoed claims that the US helped launch the attack, vowing that “such actions are not going to be left unanswered.”
US and Ukraine officials have yet to comment on the strike in Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
With the UK also approving the use of some of its weapons in Russia, the Kremlin has said that it might, in-turn, provide weapons to some of the West’s enemies.
Putin suggested as such during his trip to North Korea last week, with Peskov telling reporters Monday that Russia could take things a step further and supply weapons to regions near the US and its allies.
“Of course, the involvement of the United States in the fighting, as a result of which peaceful Russians are dying, cannot but have consequences,” Peskov said.
“Which ones exactly — time will tell.”
With Post wires
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