The Russian foreign ministry summoned U.S. ambassador Lynne Tracy following a deadly Ukrainian attack on a Black Sea port in Crimea that killed four people and injured more than 150 over the weekend, giving her a chilling warning that indicates a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries.
In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said that Washington “has effectively become a party” to the war on the side of Ukraine. Russia’s message for Tracy during the meeting reportedly included the assertion that “We are no longer at peace.” It might not be a direct declaration of war, but it’s certainly something the U.S. should worry about.
The harsh warning came after the deadly Ukrainian missile strike on the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea. Two children were among those who died in the attack; they were reportedly hit by falling debris that came from the Ukrainian missiles. It took place while the beach was crowded with visitors enjoying the summer. Footage of the incident showed beachgoers fleeing from the falling debris in sheer panic as the injured were carried away on sun beds.
According to Russia, the missiles were American-made ATACMS long-range guided missiles, which means that the U.S. is responsible in their view. The U.S. has supplied Kyiv with these missiles for more than a year, and they enable Ukrainian forces to strike targets as far as 186 miles away.
Although the U.S. has demanded that Ukraine avoid using the weapons it supplies to them to strike Russian territory, Crimea is not considered Russian territory by most countries because it was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson told the BBC: “Ukraine makes its own targeting decisions and conducts its own military operations.”
Moscow threatens unspecified “consequences” for “killing Russian children”
However, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, accused America of “killing Russian children” in a strike that he characterized as “barbaric.”
He told reporters in Moscow that the "involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are killed, cannot be without consequences,” adding ominously, "Time will tell what these will be."
Russia has long maintained that they will consider nations that supply weapons to Ukraine legitimate military targets. In a meeting with international news agencies earlier this month, Putin doubled down on this threat, stating: "If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to attack our territory and create problems for us, 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?"
Although Russia is unlikely to do anything extreme, some analysts believe this means that they could supply weapons to places like North Korea and Iran and terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, which could be enough to provoke a U.S. response.
Moscow is also reportedly considering downgrading its diplomatic relations with the West, with Peskov telling reporters: "Due to the growing involvement of the West in the conflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western intervention in the Ukrainian crisis."
However, he emphasized that an official decision has yet to be made and said that they are still considering different types of responses.
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