The Kremlin threatens the United States with “consequences” after a Ukrainian strike in Crimea

The Kremlin threatened Monday the United States of retaliation, accusing them of "killing Russian children" the day after a Ukrainian strike in Crime carried out according to Moscow é aid from American missiles, a new escalation between the two rivals around Ukraine.

Russia considers that Washington has become a party to the conflict by authorizing kyiv to use long-range missiles against Russian regions and Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014 and which serves as a rear base to the Russian army.

“It is obvious that the participation of the United States in the fighting, its direct participation, which leads to the death of Russian citizens, must have consequences,” declared Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, calling on journalists to ask Europe and the United States “why their governments are killing Russian children”.

According to Moscow, long-range ATACMS missile strikes, like that of Sunday in Ukrainian Crimea annexed by Russia, cannot be carried out by Ukraine alone, as they require American specialists, technologies and intelligence data.

Americans and Europeans have recently begun to authorize kyiv to use Western weapons to strike military targets on Russian territory used to bomb Ukraine.

Moscow has considered Crimea as its own since its annexation in 2014. This has been denounced by the overwhelming majority of the international community and is not recognized by Russia's allies such as China.

– Ambassador summoned –

Citing reprisals, Vladimir Putin had threatened this month to deliver weapons equivalent to enemies of the West so that they can attack their interests in other regions of the world.

Ukraine: positions of military forces © AFP – Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sophie RAMIS, Cléa PECULIER

“If someone considers it possible to supply such weapons in the combat zone to strike our territory (…) why should we not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class in regions of the world where the sensitive installations of countries which act in this way against Russia will be hit”, he declared on June 5.

According to the Russian army , five ATACMS missiles were fired by Ukrainian forces on Sunday and four were reportedly destroyed in flight near Sevastopol, the port city hosting the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The local governor indicated that debris from the intercepted projectiles had fallen “on coastal areas”. At least four deaths were recorded, including two children, and more than 150 people were injured, according to local authorities set up by Russia.

Monday, the Russian diplomacy summoned the American ambassador, Lynne Tracy, to Moscow to warn her that Russia was planning “retaliatory measures”, estimating that “the United States, which is waging a hybrid war against Russia, has become party to the conflict” in Ukraine.

“The ambassador was told that such actions by Washington, (…) authorizing strikes inside the territory Russian, would not go unpunished. Retaliatory measures will follow,” insisted the ministry.

.The day before, the Russian Defense Ministry had also promised a response, stressing that the ATACMS targeting data was “seized by American specialists on the basis of data from US satellite intelligence services.”

Russia has been carrying out deadly strikes against Ukraine from its territory every day for more than two years, de facto demanding its capitulation and denouncing Western support for kyiv.

For Ukraine, military targets in Crimea and Russian territory are legitimate, especially at a time when Ukrainian forces, which are suffering from a shortage of men and weapons, are facing increased pressure from the Russian army on the front.

“Crimea is a vast (Russian) military camp and warehouse with hundreds of direct military targets,” accused an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mikhailo Podolyak.

– Banned irritant gas –

Ukraine has been hit by daily Russian strikes, which have ravaged its energy infrastructure, forcing power cuts across the country to cope with electricity shortages.

A Russian missile also struck a warehouse in Odessa, a strategic Black Sea port in southern Ukraine, on Monday morning, injuring three people and starting a 3,000 m2 fire, according to Ukrainian authorities, who did not provide further details on the target.

In the southern Kherson region, a 40-year-old man was killed by shelling in the town of Stepanivka, according to kyiv.

In the northeast, two people died after a “car hit an anti-tank mine,” according to Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegoubov.

After a Russian strike in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, June 22, 2024 A bomb technician works at the site of a destroyed residential building following an aerial bomb in the center of Kharkiv, on June 22, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. © AFP – SERGEY BOBOK

Finally, the Ukrainian general staff accused Russia on Monday of intensifying its attacks using tear gas diverted from its original use. The modus operandi would be the dropping by drone of “K-51 and RG-VO grenades”, normally used by law enforcement in the event of riots.

The Ukrainian army says it “documented 715 cases” in May, “271 cases more than in April”, denouncing a “violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Manufacturing, Storage and of the use of chemical weapons and on their destruction” (CIAC).

The CIAC prohibits the use of irritant gases as a “means of war”, but authorizes them for maintaining order.

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