Russia warns of Ukraine bid to strike Crimea with US, British missiles, vowing backlash

Russia has warned of Ukraine’s plans to attack Russia-controlled Crimea with long-range American and British missiles, vowing fierce retaliation in case of such strikes.

“The use of these missiles outside the zone of our special military operation would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine,” Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu emphasized on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting of military officials, Shoigu further said Moscow possesses information that Kiev plans to strike Crimea with US-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket systems and British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014 and considers it outside the scope of its 'special military operation'- which is centered in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Ukraine is fighting to reclaim the territory.

Pro-Russian population along frontiers facing horror of Ukrainian forces

With Kiev’s much-talked-about counter-offensive against Russia faltering, stories are coming out about the horror that civilians are facing around the frontlines.

Kiev, which says it is fighting a colonial war for survival, has said it wants all its territory back, including Crimea, Russia's Black Sea naval base.

Shoigu said that since June 4, Ukraine's armed forces have carried out 263 attacks on Russian positions, which Moscow regards as the start of Ukraine's counterattack.

“Thanks to the smart and selfless actions of our units, all of them [the attacks] have been repelled. The enemy has not accomplished its goals,” Shoigu said.

Ukraine has claimed to have recaptured eight villages in the early stages of its counteroffensive, and a defense official has vowed that Kiev's "biggest blow" is yet to come despite heavy resistance from Russian forces.

“At this time, our soldiers in the south and east are actively destroying the enemy, physically cleansing Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message.

Russia attacks Ukrainian cities in overnight air strikes

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials announced that Russia on Tuesday attacked military and infrastructure targets in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and across other parts of the country, including western regions far from the front lines.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian air defense has downed more than 30 Russian drones, as ground forces were destroying Russian forces in the two main theaters of the conflict, the east, and the south.

Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement that Russian forces destroyed eight ammunition warehouses across Ukraine in the prior 24 hours and repelled Ukrainian attacks in three areas.

The ministry further said that Ukrainian forces had tried to attack the Russian-held eastern city of Donetsk and the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, but had been repelled.

Zelensky's office said drones attacked the Kiev region in several waves over more than four hours.

On the other side, Ukrainian forces also attacked the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka in southern Kherson with drones on Tuesday, killing one woman and wounding four other civilians, local Russian authorities said.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, European countries have focused their attention on providing support to Kiev, both financially and militarily. 

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized Western states' policies, warning that they are increasing the risk of a global conflict.

Putin also accused the West of exploiting Ukraine and using its people as cannon fodder against Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced the West's military support for Ukraine since the war began. The Kremlin asserts Western countries are only fanning the flames of war, adding that they do not seek to find a solution to end the conflict.

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