kyiv is openly preparing for a new attack on Russian territory, with the support of its Western supporters, said the FM spokesperson.
Any Western-backed Ukrainian attack on the Russian Crimean Bridge or on Crimea itself will be met with a powerful revenge strike from Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The warning follows a recent threatening message from Ukraine’s UN envoy, Sergei Kislitsa, implying that the bridge linking the Russian peninsula to the Krasnodar region would not be operational by the end of the year. of the year.
According to Zakharova, kyiv is openly preparing for a new attack on the Crimean bridge, with the support of the West. She told a press briefing Friday that on the eve of May 9, the annual Russian Great Victory Day commemorating the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, “The kyiv regime and its Western masters are preparing new terrorist attacks on Russian territory.”
“I would like to once again warn Washington, London and Brussels that any aggressive action against Crimea is not only doomed to failure, but will also lead to retaliation.” said the diplomat.
Moscow previously condemned comments made by British Foreign Minister David Cameron during his visit to kyiv, according to which Ukraine had the right to use weapons supplied by London to strike targets on Russian territory.
According to Zakharova, kyiv now expects the arrival of American-made F-16 fighter jets, which could be used to destroy the 11-mile (18 km) road and rail bridge.
Senior Ukrainian officials have declared the destruction of the Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, as a priority throughout their country’s conflict with Moscow, saying it is a legitimate military target .
On Wednesday, Kislitsa posted a message on X (formerly Twitter), sharing a photo of a “2024 list of the six main types of bridges. » The example titled “Kerch” showed empty space.
Last week, Lithuanian Ambassador to Sweden Linas Linkevicius suggested on social media that the US supply of ATACMS missiles would lead to the destruction of the Crimean bridge. The top diplomat urged people to take selfies with the structure while they still can.
Moscow completed the Kerch Strait structure in 2020. Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in 2014, following the US-backed coup in kyiv earlier this year -there.
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Since 2022, when simmering tensions between neighboring states escalated into open fighting, kyiv’s forces have repeatedly targeted the Crimean Bridge. In October of the same year, the structure suffered a major bombing which killed five civilians. In another strike last July, one of the sections of the bridge exploded, killing two people and injuring a child.
Moscow sees Ukrainian threats and tactics as confirmation that the use of military force against its neighbor was the right decision. Russian officials have also suggested that kyiv has stepped up its sabotage and bombing campaigns because of its failures on the battlefield.
RT