Russia Vows US Reply Against Ukraine's ATACMS Missile Attack At Sevastopol Crimea

Sergey Malgavko/TASS

JAKARTA - The Kremlin directly blamed the United States for the attack on Crimea with the US-backed ATACMS missile that killed four people and injured 151 people.

Moscow has officially warned the US ambassador that retaliation will occur.

"You have to ask my European counterparts, and especially in Washington, the press secretary, why their government killed Russian children. Just ask them this question," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters about the attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry previously said four US-delivered Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, equipped with a cluster warhead, were shot down by an air defense system and the fifth ammunition exploded in the air.

Shows on Russian state television showed people running from the beach and some people being taken to sunbathing chairs.

Russian-placed authorities in Crimea said the missile fragments fell near the coast on the north side of the town of Sevastopol where local residents were on duty.

The attack caused an angry reaction among Russian community leaders.

The Defense Ministry said US experts had established missile flight coordinates based on information from US spy satellites, meaning Washington was directly responsible.

The responsibility for the intentional missile attack on Sevastopol civilians was mainly borne by Washington, which supplies these weapons to Ukraine, and by the Kyiv regime, whose territory is the territory of this attack was carried out, the ministry said.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and now views the Black Sea peninsula as an integral part of its territory, although most of the world considers it still part of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which he considered a defensive measure against the hostile and aggressive West.

Ukraine and Western countries say Russia is launching an imperial style war.

The United States began supplying ATACMS missiles with a longer range to Ukraine, which has a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles), earlier this year.