Russian Foreign Ministry condemns US over Sevastopol attack, threatens retaliation
US Ambassador Lynne Tracy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where she was issued a formal protest concerning the attack on Sevastopol, which the Russian Defence Ministry claims was carried out by Ukrainian armed forces using American long-range ATACMS missiles.
"It was emphasized that the United States, which is waging a hybrid war against Russia and has effectively become a party to the conflict by supplying the most advanced weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads used against the residents of Sevastopol, bear equal responsibility for this atrocity alongside the Kyiv regime," stated the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The ambassador was informed that such actions by Washington, "aimed at encouraging the pro-Nazi authorities in Ukraine to continue hostilities to the last Ukrainian by authorizing strikes deep into Russian territory, will not go unpunished."
"Retaliatory measures will certainly follow," Russian diplomats threatened.
The US Embassy in Moscow has not yet commented on the summoning of the ambassador to the Foreign Ministry. US officials have previously stressed that the United States is not involved in combat operations against Russia but provides Ukraine with the capability to defend itself, including supplying weapons and other assistance.
In Sevastopol, an emergency regime was introduced on Monday following Sunday’s shelling. The confirmed number of injured stands at 153. According to the so-called governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the authorities are looking into transporting 15-20 of the injured to Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that no decision has been made to close the tourist season in Crimea in connection with the incident in Sevastopol.
Commenting on the attack on Sevastopol, adviser to the Ukrainian Presidential Office Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on "X": " There are not and cannot be any "beaches", "tourist zones" and other fictitious signs of "peaceful life" in Crimea. Crimea is definitely a foreign territory occupied by Russia, where there are hostilities and a full-scale war. The very war that Russia unleashed for genocidal and invasive purposes only. “
He added that Crimea is also "a large military camp and depot, with hundreds of direct military targets that the Russians cynically attempt to conceal and shield with their own civilians. These civilians, in turn, are considered... civilian occupiers."