The Kremlin on Saturday said that the deployment of US missiles in Germany could make European capitals targets for Russian missiles in a repeat of Cold War-style confrontation, while Russian shelling of Ukraine killed six people, officials said, as the two countries exchanged drone attacks, one of which set ablaze a Russian oil depot.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a “paradox” in which “Europe is a target for our missiles, our country is a target for US missiles in Europe.”
“We have enough capacity to contain these missiles, but the potential victims are the capitals of these countries,” he said, speaking to Russian state television channel Russia 1.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Peskov also hinted that such a confrontation could undermine Europe as a whole — in the same way that the Cold War ended with the Soviet Union’s collapse.
“Europe is coming apart. Europe is not living its best moment. In a different configuration, a repeat of history is inevitable,” he said.
The White House on Wednesday announced during a NATO summit that it would periodically station long-range weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles in Germany from 2026 as a deterrent.
Russian Ministry of Defense Andrei Belousov held a telephone call with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin where they discussed lowering the risk of “possible escalation.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has hailed the US decision — which marks a return of US cruise missiles to Germany after a 20-year absence — despite criticism from members of his Social Democrats.
Responding to the Kremlin’s remarks that the US missile deployment could put European capitals at risk, a US Department of State spokesperson said that the US and NATO “do not seek a military conflict with Russia ... but any military action directed against a NATO Ally would trigger an overwhelming response.”
Meanwhile, Russian forces on Saturday launched a “double tap” missile attack on a small town near Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, killing two people, an emergency services official and a police officer, officials said.
Officials also reported four dead in a series of attacks in Donetsk region to the southeast and two more in southern Kherson region.
The midafternoon missile attack targeted the railway station in Budy, southwest of Kharkiv, prosecutors said.
After rescue teams arrived, a second missile hit the area.
Twenty-five people were injured in the incidents, including two children, prosecutors said.
Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said the head of the Kharkiv district emergency services was killed, along with a police officer from a rapid reaction unit.
Among the injured were three emergency workers, a policeman and about 20 civilians.
The accounts could not be independently verified and Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, but it has used the “double tap” tactic to devastating effect.
An oil depot in the Tsimlyansky District, deep inside Russia’s Rostov Oblast, was set ablaze in the early hours of Saturday following a Ukrainian drone attack — the latest long-range strike by Kyiv’s forces on a border region.
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