Reactions to maximum tension between Russia and Ukraine after missile attack: “New phase of the war”

Tension between Russia and Ukraine is increasing. Just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree authorizing the use of nuclear weapons, The authorities of that same country confirmed the first Ukrainian attack with American long-range missiles.

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According to the war report collected by local agencies, five missiles were shot down and a sixth hit the grounds of a military installation in the Bryansk border region.

This information was also confirmed by Ukrainian military sources, who revealed to the kyiv digital newspaper RBK that their army attacked American missiles this morning for the first time.

“Indeed, for the first time we have used ATACMS ballistic missiles to hit Russian territory,” said the source, who placed the target of the attack in the city of Karachev, in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine.

>>> You can read: Putin signs a decree that allows the use of nuclear weapons in the face of any “critical threat” against Russia

“A new phase of the West’s war against Russia”: senior Russian official

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised that Russia will respond accordingly to the firing of long-range missiles by Ukraineestimating that the United States is involved in these attacks that open a “new phase” of the war.

“If there is a launch of long-range missiles from Ukraine towards Russian territory, it means that these are operated by US military experts. We consider this to be a new phase of the West’s war against Russia and we will react accordingly,” Lavrov declared to the press in Rio de Janeiro, after the G20 summit.

The chancellor asserted that it is not possible to use these missiles “without the help of experts and instructors from the United States” who provide “satellite data, programming and targeting.” In addition, he considered that the use of these missiles against Russian territory is “a sign” that Ukraine and the West “want an escalation.”

His statement comes after the United States reported that it allowed Ukraine to use its ATACMS missiles against military targets located inside Russia.

These media outlets pointed out that the White House only gave kyiv the green light to attack targets located in the Kursk region, partially occupied by Ukrainian forces and where Russia has deployed North Korean soldiers to reinforce its troops, in order to expel the Ukrainians from there.

The Russian region of Bryansk, where the infrastructure attacked this morning by Ukraine is located, is located north of Kursk.

HANDOUT/AFP

“It is irresponsible”: EU representative

The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, stated this Tuesday that the fate of the bloc depends on the fate of the Ukrainians, and considered the Russian threat to respond to attacks using nuclear weapons “irresponsible.”

“The war against Ukraine directly affects our values ​​and principles. The fate of the Ukrainians will determine that of the EU,” Borrell said at the end of a meeting of the defense ministers of the bloc’s countries.

For this reason, Borrell said, if Russia wins the war against Ukraine “we will pay a very high bill, much more expensive than any military aid we can pay.”

Borrell described as “irresponsible” Russia’s threat to respond with nuclear weapons in the event that its territory is attacked with long-range weapons provided to Ukraine by Western allies.

“This is not the first time they have threatened nuclear escalation, which is completely irresponsible. Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and therefore should never be fought,” Borrell said.

“Any call for nuclear war is irresponsible. We have to call it what it is,” the diplomat said.