Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday the United States could face “fatal consequences” for allowing Ukraine to use American weapons to strike targets on Russian soil.
Ryabkov was responding to statements from U.S. officials on Friday that President Joe Biden reportedly granted Ukraine permission to hit targets in Russia with weapons provided by the United States under certain situations. More specifically, the Ukrainians were cleared to hit positions in Russia launching devastating artillery and missile attacks against the border city of Kharkiv.
Germany also gave Ukraine permission on Friday to use its weapons against Russian targets to defend Kharkiv. The Netherlands, Finland, and Poland expressed support for allowing Ukraine to defend itself against attacks launched from Russian territory, as did NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
“I would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,” Ryabkov said in response on Monday, as quoted by Russian state media.
Ryabkov contemptuously advised U.S. officials to “spend some of their time – which they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the lightness of their approach – on studying what was said in detail by Putin.”
Ryabkov said Russian leader Vladimir Putin has issued “a very significant warning, and it must be taken with the utmost seriousness.”
Putin said last Tuesday that the “constant escalation” of Western nations supporting Ukraine, culminating in them allowing Ukraine to use their weapons against targets in Russia, could “lead to serious consequences.”
“If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons? It’s hard to say. Do they want a global conflict?” Putin asked rhetorically.
To make sure no one missed the heavy insinuations that he was talking about launching a nuclear war, Putin added that European countries with “small territory and dense populations” should be especially careful about provoking Russia.
Ryabkov said on Monday that Ukrainian forces have attacked Russian early-warning radar systems, and the response from Moscow could be “asymmetrical.”
“This is not the first time that the regime in Kyiv has tried to disrupt the normal functioning of important parts of our military organization, in particular those related to the strategic sphere. These intentions will be stopped by us. Responses may be asymmetrical,” he said.
Russian Defense Ministry officials and military bloggers claimed on Monday that Ukraine fired a U.S.-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) at targets in Belgorod, a Russian city about 25 miles north of the Ukrainian border. The governor of the Belgorod region said two city officials were killed in the bombardment and three others were injured, along with six civilians.
Ukrainian media also said on Monday that a HIMARS was fired into Belgorod but the target was a Russian S-300/400 air defense system.
A post on Telegram by a group of Russian independent journalists called ASTRA said a Russian Defense Ministry base in the Korocha district of Belgorod was “attacked” and “several pieces of military equipment burned down.
“While the fire was extinguished, a projectile detonated, leading to the death of the secretary of the district’s security council, Igor Nechiporenko, and the wounding of the head of the district administration and three servicemen of the Russian Defense Ministry,” ASTRA said, a report that agreed with the Belgorod governor’s comment about the death of city officials in the attack.
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