UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – The American ambassador in Moscow was summoned to be warned that “retaliatory measures would follow».
As the Kremlin threatens retaliation against the United States, Russia steps up attacks using a banned irritant gas and a Russian missile attack in Odessa leaves three people injured. Le Figaro takes stock of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict this Monday, June 24.
Moscow threatens Washington after strike in Crimea
The Kremlin on Monday threatened the United States with “consequences”the day after a Ukrainian strike in Crimea, carried out according to Moscow using an American missile, and accused the West of “kill Russian children”. “It is obvious that the participation of the United States in the fighting, its direct participation, which leads to the death of Russian citizens, must have consequences”insisted to the press Dmitri Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, calling on journalists to ask in Europe and the United States “why their governments are killing Russian children”.
Russian diplomacy announced Monday that the American ambassador in Moscow had been summoned to be informed of upcoming “retaliatory measures”, after a strike the day before in Crimea, annexed by Russia, which was allegedly carried out by Ukraine with American missiles. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had informed diplomat Lynne Tracy that “the United States, which is waging a hybrid war against Russia, has become a party to the conflict” in Ukraine and that “retaliatory measures would follow”.
Russia steps up attacks using banned irritant gas, kyiv says
Russia has intensified its attacks using tear gas diverted from its original use, the Ukrainian army said on Monday, which recorded 715 attacks of this type in the month of May alone. The modus operandi would be the dropping by drone of “K-51 and RG-VO grenades», Normally used by the police to disperse riots, according to the same source.
The Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement on Facebook that it had “documented 715 cases of Russian use of munitions containing dangerous chemical compounds» for the month of May, «i.e. 271 more cases than in April». «215 soldiers» Ukrainians last month visited “medical institutions” and presented “symptoms of chemical damage of varying severity», It is also indicated. “The use of chemical weapons or chemical riot control agents as a means of warfare constitutes a violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their destruction (CIAC), recalled the Ukrainian army.
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The CIAC effectively prohibits the use of tear gas as a “means of war“, but authorizes them for the maintenance of order. The US State Department had, in May, accused Moscow of having used a “chemical weapon», chloropicrin, a suffocating agent, against Ukrainian troops, in violation of the CIAC, although ratified by Moscow which denies possessing a chemical arsenal. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had ruled “insufficiently supported» the information she received on the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Three injured in Russian missile attack in Odessa
The southern Ukrainian city of Odessa was attacked by cruise missiles on Monday, injuring three and causing a major fire on “3000 m2”according to local authorities. “On the morning of June 24, the Russian occupiers attacked the Odessa region with two cruise missiles, apparently of the Iskander-K type”, indicated the military air command of the Southern region on Telegram. The region’s governor, Oleg Kiper, explained on Ukrainian television that a “fire broke out over an area of 3000 square meters” and that the “Firefighters are currently working to prevent the fire from spreading to the entire building”. “So far, three people have been injured: a 19-year-old young man and two men aged 50 and 58. They were hospitalized”he commented on Telegram.
A large column of smoke rose on Monday from an industrial zone located not far from the center, according to an AFP journalist on site and Ukrainian national television. The images show a charred sheet metal building whose front was blown away by an explosion. “A warehouse was destroyed”clarified on its social networks the military command of the region, affirming that it was a «infrastructure civile». “The Russian attack hit civilian infrastructure in Odessa. Rescuers and emergency services are working on site. said the city’s mayor, Gennady Trukhanov, on Telegram.
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A Black Sea port city vital for Ukrainian exports, Odessa is regularly targeted by missiles and drones from Moscow. In the neighboring Kherson region, a 40-year-old man was killed in the town of Stepanivka bombed by “Russian forces”, according to the head of the military administration of the area, explaining that two other people were injured. In the north of the country, two people died after a “car hit an anti-tank mine”according to the governor of Kharkiv, Oleg Synegubov.
