Russia Says It Will Step Up Strikes on Kyiv Over Alleged Cross-Border Attacks

Moscow accused Ukraine of launching a helicopter attack in a Russian village near the border on Thursday, which Ukraine denied

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russia will increase missile strikes on the city of Kyiv in response to alleged Ukrainian attacks inside Russian territory.

“The number and scope of missile strikes on facilities in Kyiv will increase in response to any terror-related attacks or subversive acts by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory,” Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.

Konashenkov said that overnight, the Russian military struck a “military facility” on the outskirts of Kyiv using Kalibr sea-launched long-range precision missiles in retaliation for alleged cross-border attacks.

“As a result of the strike on the Zhulyany-based Vizar machine-building factory, the workshops of the production and repair of long-and medium-range surface-to-air missile systems and also anti-ship missiles were destroyed,” he said.

Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of sending helicopters to bomb a Russian village in the Bryansk oblast that’s only six miles from the border. Russian officials said seven people were injured and that the strikes hit residential areas, but Ukraine denied responsibility. The National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine rejected Russia’s accusation and claimed that Moscow was staging “terror attacks.”

Earlier this month, Russia accused Ukraine of launching a helicopter attack on a fuel depot in Belgorod, Russia. Ukrainian officials initially denied responsibility, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky chose not to comment on the incident when asked about it in an interview with Fox News.

“I’m sorry. I do not discuss any of my orders as commander in chief, the leader of this state, and there are things which I only share with the military armed forces of Ukraine and when they talk with me,” Zelensky said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.