MOSCOW: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday the United States could face “fatal consequences” if it ignored Moscow’s warnings not to let Ukraine use weapons provided by Washington to strike targets inside Russia.
Ryabkov was commenting on President Joe Biden’s decision last week to approve the use of US-supplied weapons to hit targets inside Russia that were involved in attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
“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,” state news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying.
He referred to comments last week by President Vladimir Putin, who said NATO countries were playing with fire and risking a deeper global conflict — one of a series of warnings from Moscow about the risk of a serious escalation.
“I urge these figures (in the US) ... 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.
Putin had delivered “a very significant warning and it must be taken with the utmost seriousness”, he added.
Putin said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, because such attacks would require its satellite, intelligence and military help.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that NATO had the right to help Ukraine uphold its own right to self-defense, and this did not make NATO a party to the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the weekend that Kyiv was grateful to Washington for allowing it to use US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems in the Kharkiv region, but this was not enough. Ukraine has long argued that restrictions on the way it can use Western-supplied weapons are seriously limiting its ability to defend itself.
Russian news agencies quoted Ryabkov as saying that attempts by Kyiv to attack Russian early-warning radar systems would be thwarted and Moscow may respond asymmetrically to such steps.
A Kyiv intelligence source said last week that a Ukrainian drone had targeted a long-range radar deep inside Russia that is part of Russia’s early-warning system to detect whether it is under nuclear attack.
Russia warns US against ‘fatal’ miscalculation in Ukraine
https://arab.news/4z9sm
Russia warns US against ‘fatal’ miscalculation in Ukraine
- Putin said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia
Russian drone attack forces power cuts in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, military says
- Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid
KYIV: Russian drones struck infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, forcing emergency power blackouts for more than 45,000 customers and disrupting heat supplies, military administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said.
“Please fill up on water and charge your devices, if you have the chance. It’s going to be difficult,” Vilkul said on the Telegram messaging app.
Water utility pumping stations switched to generators and water remained in the system, but there could be pressure problems.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately known. There was no comment from Russia about the strike.
Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s power plants, substations and transmission lines with missiles and drones, seeking to knock out electricity and heating and hinder industry during the nearly four-year war.
Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid.
Kryvyi Rih, a steel-and-mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, has been hit repeatedly, with strikes killing civilians and damaging homes and industry.
The city sits close enough to southern front lines to be within strike range, while its factories, logistics links and workforce make it economically important and a key rear-area center supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
