Russia has intensified its rhetoric against the West, blaming the United States for Ukraine’s alleged use of US-supplied weapons against civilians on its territory and accusing France of stoking tensions across Europe.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that the US decision last week to give the green light to Ukraine firing US-supplied weapons against Russia amounted to “a confession… for the murder of children and women in the Belgorod region”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on May 31 that President Joe Biden agreed for the first time to let Ukraine use the weapons so it could defend the northeastern region of Kharkiv, adjacent to Belgorod. The US still prohibits Ukraine from firing US-made weapons into Russia.
In her comments, Zakharova said the alleged attacks took place last week in the Belgorod region.
“HIMARS Fragments [rockets] will serve as direct evidence,” she told reporters, without presenting images of any rocket fragments or saying how many people died in the alleged incident.
His claims could not be independently verified, while Ukraine and the US have yet to comment.
Separately, on Friday, state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused French President Emmanuel Macron of stoking tensions across Europe after promising on Thursday to transfer Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine and help train Ukrainian pilots.
“Macron demonstrates absolute support for the Kiev regime and declares readiness for France’s direct participation in the military conflict,” Peskov said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “We consider that these statements are very, very provocative, inflame tensions on the continent and do not lead to anything positive.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned in recent weeks that the West risks global conflict if it deepens the war in Ukraine. Speaking to foreign editors on Wednesday, he suggested the possibility of heightened tensions – and even “asymmetric” military measures – if Western countries such as Germany and the US supplied Ukraine with weapons used on Russian soil.
He explained that the use of certain weapons, including the use of advanced missile technology, would amount to participation in Russia’s war with Ukraine. “This would mark your direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act accordingly,” he said.
Continent at war
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday thanked France for its support and said he hoped to see French jets in Ukrainian skies soon, following up on Macron’s promise.
Speaking in the French Parliament after attending the country’s D-Day celebrations the day before, Zelenskyy said Europe was a continent at war and warned that Russian aggression could go beyond his country’s borders.
“We live in a time when Europe is no longer a continent of peace, unfortunately,” Zelenskyy said in a speech to French lawmakers. “Once again, Europe’s cities are being destroyed and villages are being burned,” he said of Russia’s bombing of Ukraine.
“This is against Ukraine now. But this could target other countries tomorrow, and we already clearly see the direction of aggression – the Baltic countries, Poland, the Balkans,” she added.
Even Europe was not enough, Zelenskyy claimed, pointing to Russian military actions in Syria and Moscow’s growing presence in Africa’s Sahel region.
The Ukrainian president said the world was too “afraid” to respond forcefully to Putin and that he hoped a Swiss-hosted summit this month on how to bring peace to Ukraine could hasten a just end to the conflict.
Drone exchanges
His comments came as fighting continued in the war that began in February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that Moscow forces fired 53 combat drones and five cruise missiles at Ukraine, saying air defenses shot down all but five drones.
Ukrainian authorities also said drone strikes overnight caused damage in Kiev, sparking a fire at an industrial plant near the capital. The city of Odesa and other parts of Ukraine were also hit.
In Russia, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike, which hit a car she was traveling in with her parents.
And in the Russian-controlled city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of firing five U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles in a strike that it said injured 20 people, including children.
The ministry said in a statement that four of the five missiles were shot down by air defense systems, but that one of the missiles damaged two residential apartment blocks, something it claimed was deliberate.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the alleged attacks.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
