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Missiles for Ukraine: Russia warns of escalation, Zelensky on the front
The Kremlin warned Monday against a new escalation and promised an “appropriate” response in the event of long-range missile launches against Russia, after the green light given to kyiv by the United States, while a new strike “The use by Kiev of long-range missiles to attack our territory would mean the direct participation of the United States and its satellites (…), as well as “a radical change in the essence and very nature of the conflict,” declared Russian diplomatic spokesperson Maria Zakharova. “Russia’s response in such a case will be appropriate and will be felt.” Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday toured the Eastern Front, first visiting his troops in Pokrovsk, currently the main target of Russian attacks in Donbass. He then went to another hot spot, to Kupiansk, a city that the Russians had occupied in 2022 and which they briefly entered last week. Demanded by kyiv for months, Joe Biden's decision on the missiles was confirmed to AFP on Sunday by an American official, just a few weeks before Donald Trump takes office, considered less inclined to help Kiev. From Rio de Janeiro, where he is attending the G20, Joe Biden called the together the leaders of the most developed economies to “firmly support the sovereignty” of Ukraine, without however mentioning long-range missiles. – “Too late” -A senior official of the Ukrainian presidency speaking under cover of the Anonymity confirmed to AFP that the Americans had only given their agreement to kyiv on these missiles after Russia had received reinforcements from thousands of North Korean soldiers. “This decision was necessary a year ago,” he lamented. According to media reports, the American green light could also be limited to strikes against the Russian region of Kursk partially controlled by the Ukrainian army and where North Korean troops would be deployed. On the battlefield, in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers, forced to give ground almost every day, were doubtful. The American announcement “probably comes too late”, confided to the AFP one of them, serving in the Pokrovsk zone, a logistical hub to which the Russians are getting closer day by day. Moscow, moreover, claimed Monday the conquest of a new village, that of Novooleksiïvka, located approximately 15 kilometers south of this city. For the first time in several weeks, the presidency announced the trip of Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday on the front, closest to the fighting, in Pokrovsk, then in Koupiansk, further north. – “The horror” -The sustainability of American support was called into doubt by the election of Donald Trump, whose declarations during the campaign for the presidential election makes Kiev and its supporters fear that he is trying to make Ukraine make concessions that are unacceptable to it. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose troops are advancing, warned that any discussion on a cessation of hostilities could only be based on “new territorial realities.” In recent weeks, Russia has begun to intensify its deadly strikes on civilian zones in its neighbor, a tactic seen by many in Ukraine as an attempt to break the morale of the population, with a view to possible negotiations. A Russian missile attack in broad daylight on Monday left at least ten dead and 47 injured in Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, according to the authorities. Seven police officers, a caregiver and two town residents were among those killed, the regional governor said. According to the Ukrainian air force, it was shrapnel from a downed Russian projectile that fell on a residential area. “I saw the horror”, tells AFP Andriï, originally from Kherson, in the south, where he lived “under Russian occupation” for six months”, in 2022. Liberated that same year, Kherson is bombarded daily by the Russian army.Andriï moved to Odessa to be “quiet”: “But as the situation in recent weeks shows, it's the same as in Kherson. People are dying every day…” In the east, three people were killed in Russian strikes, regional authorities said, two in Kostiantynivka (and two wounded), as well as a third in Siversk. Separately, the Organization for the Prohibition of Arms (OPCW) announced Monday that it had discovered CS riot tear gas in samples of a grenade and soil provided by Ukraine, in contravention of its convention on the use of chemical weapons. Ukraine suffered the last weekend a new massive Russian attack on its energy installations, forcing it to announce massive cuts in the electricity supply, a first in months.bur-ant/bds/mm/ib
