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Russia hits Odesa as Kremlin warns US after Ukrainian strike on Crimea
Russia hits Odesa as Kremlin warns US after Ukrainian strike on Crimea
by AFP Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) June 24, 2024

The Kremlin on Monday warned the United States of "consequences" and summoned its ambassador after Moscow said a Ukrainian strike with a US missile on Crimea killed four people.

Moscow has increasingly blasted Washington and Kyiv's Western backers for supplying weapons to be fired on Russian targets, calling them direct participants in the two-year conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Sunday's strike on Sevastopol "barbaric" and accused Washington of "killing Russian children".

Two of the victims were minors, Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram.

Peskov also pointed to comments by President Vladimir Putin earlier this month about arming countries to potentially strike Western targets.

"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 will be," he said.

"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 foreign ministry said it had summoned US envoy Lynne Tracy.

It later issued a statement saying that Washington "bears equal responsibility with the Kyiv regime for this atrocity" and the strike would "not go unpunished".

- US says onus on Russia-

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said that the Ukrainians "make their own decisions".

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Russia was to blame for the fighting and reiterated the stance of most of the world that Crimea -- unilaterally annexed by Moscow in 2014 -- remains part of Ukraine.

"We regret any civilian loss of life in this war. We provide weapons to Ukraine so it can defend its sovereign territory against armed aggression -- that includes in Crimea which, of course, is part of Ukraine," Miller told reporters.

"Russia could stop this war today," he said.

Miller said the United States had no assessment on the incident in question but pointed to Russia blaming Washington initially for a deadly raid on a Moscow concert hall in March that was later claimed by the Islamic State group.

"It's not unusual for the government in Moscow to make ridiculous, hyperbolic claims about responsibility that aren't borne out by fact," he said.

Russia said the strike on Sunday was carried out with a US-supplied ATACMS missile loaded with a cluster warhead.

Local Moscow-installed officials said the missile hit an area of the port city with sandy beaches and hotels.

Russia said 82 people including 27 children were hospitalised with injuries from the strike.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko was quoted by TASS news agency as saying on Monday that 14 of the injured were in a serious condition.

- 'Russia must leave' -

At a meeting with international news agencies including AFP this month, Putin criticised the West's delivery of long-range weapons 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?" Putin said.

"That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it," he told reporters.

Peskov also referred back to comments by Putin that target data for Ukrainian strikes was being provided by Western countries.

Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, said on Monday: "Crimea is Ukraine."

"Russia must leave the peninsula. Their army and military objects there must cease to exist," he said on social media.

A senior aide to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podolyak, also suggested that Crimea was a legitimate military target.

"Crimea is also a large military camp and warehouse, with hundreds of direct military targets, which the Russians are cynically trying to hide and cover up with their own civilians," he said.

Russia has been launching deadly strikes against Ukraine on a daily basis since it began its campaign in February 2022.

Ukraine says 551 children have been killed and 1,396 injured since the start of the assault.

Russian missile wounds four, sparks blaze in Odesa
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) June 24, 2024 - A Russian cruise missile hit a warehouse in the southern port city of Odesa, wounding at least four people and sparking a massive blaze, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

Kyiv also conceded that Russian forces had advanced towards an important supply link in the eastern Donetsk region, where outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian troops have been struggling to hold the line.

The historic Black Sea city of Odesa is a key shipping hub for Ukrainian exports and has faced persistent missile and drone attacks from Russian forces since the beginning of their invasion in February 2022.

"Russian occupants attacked the Odesa region with two cruise missiles. One of them was eliminated," the air force said on social media.

The military acknowledged that a warehouse was hit, without elaborating, and the region's governor said four people were wounded.

AFP journalists in Odesa saw large columns of smoke rising over a charred building.

Odesa governor Oleg Kiper said the blaze had spread over 3,000 square metres (3,590 square yards) and that emergency services were working on the scene.

"We are once again convinced that the enemy is deliberately hitting civilians and civilian infrastructure to spread chaos and panic," he told state media.

In the neighbouring Kherson region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces, guided aerial bombs hit Ukrainian-controlled territory, its governor said on Monday, killing a 40-year-old man.

East Ukraine has borne the brunt of more than two years of fighting, and in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military said fighting for the village of Novooleksandrivka was ongoing.

Russian forces have advanced further towards the a strategic highway that connects large civilian settlements in the region.

In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the governor said two people were killed when their car hit a Russian anti-tank mine near the border village of Lyptsi.

Lyptsi was targeted last month when Russian forces launched a surprise ground offensive over the border that has forced thousands to evacuate.

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