The military administration of the Ukrainian capital Kiev reported that Russia launched an air attack on Kiev early Tuesday morning local time.
“On the outskirts of Kiev, air defense systems are working (to repel the attack),” said Serhiy Popko, head of the department on the Telegram messaging app.
For its part, the White House announced that it does not support attacks inside Russia, in response to a question about an attack by two drones from Ukraine that damaged buildings in Moscow earlier Monday.
The White House (AFP)
White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre told reporters: “In general, we do not support attacks inside Russia.”
Russia spoke of taking harsh retaliatory measures against Ukraine after the two strikes carried out by the two drones. One of them took place near the headquarters of the Russian Defense Ministry, which described the attack as a shameless terrorist act.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said on Monday that Moscow needs to expand the range of targets it strikes in Ukraine.
He wrote on the Telegram application: “We need to choose non-traditional targets for our strikes. Not only storage facilities, energy centers and oil facilities.”
This comes after an attack with two drones targeted the Russian capital, Moscow, on Monday morning.
The news agency “Agence France Presse” quoted a source in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry as saying that this attack was a “special operation” carried out by Kiev.
The source, who declined to be named, explained that “the attack with two drones on Moscow on Monday was a special operation carried out by the Military Intelligence Service” of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that Russia reserves the right to take “harsh response measures” after the attacks, with marches targeting Moscow and the Crimea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said: “We consider these events as a new resort to terrorist methods … to intimidate the civilian population,” accusing Westerners of “standing behind the insolent actions” of Kiev, adding that “the Russian Federation reserves the right to take harsh response measures.”