Long-range missile launches | Moscow warns of escalation in Ukraine

(Odessa) 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 Ukraine by the United States, while that a new Russian strike left at least 10 dead and dozens injured in Odessa.

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 took office, considered less inclined to help Kyiv.

“Kyiv’s use 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 very essence and nature of the conflict,” declared the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova. “Russia’s response in such a case will be appropriate and will be felt.”

From Rio de Janeiro, where he is attending the G20, Joe Biden called on all the leaders of the most developed economies to “firmly support the sovereignty” of Ukraine, without however mentioning long-range missiles.

In their joint declaration, the G20 countries – which include Russia – were content to say they were in favor of “any constructive initiative” aimed at a “just and lasting peace”, without condemning the invasion.

This document “would have benefited from being more explicit”, regretted French President Emmanuel Macron, judging the American decision to authorize deep strikes “completely good”.

“The only power that is escalating this conflict today is Russia, by engaging North Korea on its side, which is, as we know, a very aggressive power. […]. So it is truly a break in this war which led to this choice by the Americans,” he insisted.

” Too late ”

Before a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriï Sybiga for his part estimated that the American green light “could be a game-changer. The further Ukraine can strike, the shorter the war will be.”

“This decision was necessary a year ago,” regretted a senior official of the Ukrainian presidency, however, on condition of anonymity.

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 up ground almost every day, are doubtful.

The American announcement “probably comes too late”, one of them, serving in the Pokrovsk zone, a logistical node to which the Russians are getting closer day by day, told AFP.

Moscow, moreover, claimed on 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 a trip by Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday to the front, closest to the fighting, to Pokrovsk, then to Koupiansk, another hot spot into which the Russians briefly penetrated last week.

“The horror”

The sustainability of American support was called into doubt by the election of Donald Trump, whose statements during the presidential campaign made Kyiv and its supporters fear that he would seek to make Ukraine make unacceptable concessions for She.

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 areas in its neighbor, a tactic seen by many in Ukraine as an attempt to break morale in preparation for possible negotiations.

A Russian missile attack in broad daylight on Monday left at least 10 dead and 47 injured in Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, according to the authorities.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, these were fragments from a downed Russian projectile which 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.

In the east, three people were killed in Russian strikes, regional authorities said, two in Kostiantynivka (and two injured), as well as a third in Siversk.