Kremlin warns US of ‘consequences’ after deadly attack on Crimea

Authorities in Moscow warned Washington on Monday that the deadly Ukrainian attack on annexed Crimea, reportedly carried out with long-range missiles from the United States, would have “consequences” for Washington.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack on the city of Sevastopol on Sunday as “barbaric” and accused the US of “killing Russian children.” Two of the four people killed in the attack were minors.

“The involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are being killed, cannot be without consequences,” Peskov told reporters. “Time will tell what they will be.”

Peskov referred to comments by President Vladimir Putin earlier this month that Moscow was arming countries to potentially launch attacks on Western targets.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy in response to the attack on Crimea on Sunday.

It later issued a statement saying that Washington bore “the same responsibility for this atrocity as the Kiev regime” and that the attack “would not go unpunished.”

Russian authorities said the attack on Sevastopol was carried out using US ATACMS missiles equipped with a cluster warhead. Moscow-based Crimean authorities said the weapons struck an area with resort beaches and hotels.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said on Monday: “Russia must leave the peninsula.”

“Their army and their military facilities there must cease to exist,” he wrote on social media.

Mykhailo Podoliak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also said Crimea was a legitimate military target.

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