Moscow warns the West of 'retaliation'.
(Baonghean.vn) - A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Kyiv is openly preparing for a new attack on Russian territory with the support of Western countries that back Ukraine.
According to RT, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that any Western-backed Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge or Crimea itself would be met with a strong retaliation from Moscow.
The warning comes after a recent threatening post by Ukraine's envoy to the United Nations, Sergey Kislitsa, implying that the bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to the Krasnodar Region will no longer exist by the end of this year.
According to Zakharova, Kyiv is openly preparing for a new attack on the Crimean Bridge, with Western support. She stated at a press conference on May 3rd that, ahead of May 9th, Russia's annual Victory Day commemorating the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, "the Kyiv authorities and their Western masters are hatching plans for new terrorist attacks on Russian territory."
The diplomat said: "I want to warn Washington, London, and Brussels once again that any act of aggression against Crimea will not only fail but will also be met with retaliation."
Moscow had previously condemned British Foreign Secretary David Cameron's statement during his visit to Kyiv that Ukraine had the right to use weapons supplied by London to attack targets on Russian territory.
According to Zakharova, Kyiv is expecting the arrival of US-made F-16 fighter jets, which could be used to destroy the 18-kilometer-long road and railway bridge.
Senior Ukrainian officials have declared the destruction of the Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, a top priority throughout their country's conflict with Moscow, and have argued that it is a legitimate military objective.
On May 1st, Ukrainian envoy Kislitsa posted an article on X (formerly Twitter), sharing an image of a “list of 6 major bridge types for 2024”. The example labeled “Kerch” shows a blank space.
Last week, Lithuania's ambassador to Sweden, Linas Linkevicius, wrote on social media that the US supply of ATACMS missiles would lead to the destruction of the Crimean Bridge. The senior diplomat urged people to take selfies with the structure while they still could.
Moscow completed the bridge across the Kerch Strait in 2020. Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in 2014, following a US-backed coup in Kyiv earlier that year.
Since 2022, when simmering tensions between the neighboring countries escalated into open fighting, Kyiv's forces have repeatedly targeted the Crimean Bridge. In October 2022, the structure suffered a major bombing that killed five civilians. In another attack last July, a span of the bridge was blown up, killing two people and injuring a child.
Moscow views Ukraine's threats and tactics as confirmation that using military force against its neighbor was the right decision. Russian officials also argue that Kyiv escalated its sabotage and bombing campaigns due to battlefield failures.
