The Kremlin has accused the U.S. of ‘killing Russian children’ after a Ukrainian attack on occupied Crimea with long-range missiles supplied by Washington and said there will be ‘consequences’.
Moscow has summoned the U.S. ambassador to issue a formal warning, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued a public statement slamming the U.S. for ‘barbaric’ strike on Sevastopol, a strategic port city on the Black Sea.
‘The involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are killed, cannot be without consequences,’ said Peskov.
‘Time will tell what these will be.’
‘You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington, the press secretaries, why their governments are killing Russian children. Just ask them this question.’ the spokesman for Vladimir Putin said.
After the Sevastopol strike, Russia accused the U.S. of ‘waging a hybrid war against Russia’ and of becoming ‘a party to the conflict.’
Russia also told U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy the attack would ‘not go unpunished. Retaliatory measures will definitely follow.’
Spray flies into the air as pieces of debris from the shot down missile land in the coast off Sevastopol
The attack killed at least four people, including two children, with 150 were injured.
Video shows panicked beachgoers fleeing from falling shrapnel after Russian air defense intercepted the U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles.
The ATACMs provide a far longer 190 mile (300km) range than missiles previously supplied by the U.S.
The ATACMs started arriving in Ukraine earlier this year after intense lobbying from Kiev.
Weeks ago, the U.S. changed its policy to allow use of the weapons inside Russian territory along border regions with Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attack in Crimea ‘barbaric’. Moscow summoned the U.S. ambassador in response.
This followed relentless Russian attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, after Moscow experienced battlefield gains.
Ukrainian commanders have pleaded for the authority to use the weapons to strike where Russia masses its troops and stores aircraft and ammunition ahead of assaults on its territory.
The long-range ATACMs were included in a March military aid package, although restrictions still prevent their use deep inside Russian territory.
Russia’s war on Ukraine, and Ukraine’s defense by the U.S. and NATO allies, has put deep strains between the U.S. and Russia, both nuclear powers.
Putin delivered his own warning earlier this month following reports the U.S. had begun shipping the longer-range ATACMs to Ukraine.
‘Why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those (Western) countries?’ he asked.
‘That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it,’ he said.