MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Monday warned the United States of serious “consequences” and summoned its ambassador after Moscow said a Ukrainian strike with a US missile on Crimea killed four civilians, including two minors.
The Kremlin summoned US Ambassador Lynne Tracy and accused Washington of direct involvement in the attack, which it described as “barbaric.”
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Sunday’s strike targeted Sevastopol and used a US-supplied ATACMS missile with a cluster warhead. Peskov condemned the incident as a deliberate act resulting in casualties among Russian civilians, including 27 children among the 82 injured.
“The involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are killed, cannot be without consequences,” Peskov told reporters on Monday.
“Time will tell what these consequences will be,” Peskov told reporters, emphasizing President Vladimir Putin’s recent comments about potential asymmetric responses to Western actions in Ukraine.
“Just ask my colleagues in Europe and above all in Washington, ask the press secretaries there why their government is killing Russian children,” he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry held both the US and Ukrainian governments accountable for the attack. In a statement, it asserted that the strike “will not go unpunished” and accused Kyiv of equal responsibility for the “atrocity.”
The incident has exacerbated tensions over Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian officials have consistently rejected Russia’s claims to the region, with Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, reiterating Ukraine’s stance that “Crimea is Ukraine.” Yermak called for Russia to withdraw its military presence from the peninsula, describing it as a legitimate military target due to its significant military infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to the Ukrainian president, justified targeting Crimea by alleging its use as a military hub by Russian forces. He accused Russia of hiding military targets among civilians, justifying Ukrainian strikes as necessary measures in self-defense.
The escalation comes amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which began in February 2022. Ukraine reports significant civilian casualties, with 551 children killed and over 1,300 injured since the conflict’s onset.
