Russia has blamed the United States for a “barbaric” attack in Crimea that utilized US-provided missiles, resulting in the deaths of at least four people, including children, and wounding 151 others.
On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, accusing the US of waging a “proxy war” and warning that retaliatory measures would “definitely follow.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has consistently claimed it is effectively fighting a proxy war with the West.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller stated that the US provides Ukraine with weapons to help defend its sovereignty and that Tracy expressed regret over any civilian casualties.
The Kremlin warned that the recent US decision to allow Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons on targets within Russian territory risks escalation and will have “consequences.”
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Ukrainian attack on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula involved five US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles.
The ministry claimed that four were shot down, while the fifth detonated midair, and asserted that US specialists had set the missiles’ flight coordinates based on information from US spy satellites.
The US, which began supplying Ukraine with the missiles earlier this year, has not responded, nor has there been an immediate response from Kyiv.
“Such actions by Washington … will not be left without response,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday as it summoned the ambassador. “There will definitely be response measures.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attack “absolutely barbaric” and said in a news conference that Moscow would react to the US involvement.
“You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington … why their governments are killing Russian children,” he suggested to reporters present.
