Russia accuses US of ‘barbaric attack’ and reviews use of nuclear weapons

This Monday (24), Russia accused the United States of the Ukrainian attack in Sevastopol that killed at least five people, including three children, and injured 151 more, according to Kremlin officials.

In the airstrike carried out this Sunday (23), Ukraine used missiles of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) type delivered by the USA.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian army also had the support of American experts, who defined the flight coordinates of the missiles based on information from US spy satellites.

“Responsibility for the deliberate missile attack on the civilians of Sevastopol lies above all with Washington, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine, and the Kiev regime, from whose territory this attack was carried out,” the ministry said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov called the action a “barbaric attack” and the foreign ministry summoned the American ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, to tell her that Moscow blames both the US and Ukraine for the bombing.

“US involvement in the fighting, resulting in the death of peaceful Russians, cannot remain without consequences,” Peskov said.

The Pentagon responded by exempting itself by saying that Ukraine “makes its own targeting decisions and conducts its own military operations,” according to Maj. Charlie Dietz, a U.S. defense spokesman.

In response, the Kremlin also confirmed on Monday that Putin had ordered a review of Russian nuclear doctrine, which should facilitate the use of tactical weapons (with less destructive impact) of this type.

“President Putin said that work is underway to bring the doctrine in line with current realities,” Peskov said at a briefing, without elaborating.

At the end of May, US President Joe Biden, through his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, confirmed the authorization for Ukraine to use weapons supplied by the Americans in attacks inside Russia.

“Over the past few weeks, Ukraine has asked for authorization to use the weapons we are providing to defend itself against this aggression, including against Russian forces massing on the Russian side of the border and then attacking Ukraine, Blinken said.

After the US green light, at least 13 Western countries authorized Ukraine to use its weapons against Russian military targets. Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands claimed that such attacks must “respect international law.”

Since the start of the war in 2022, Kiev’s Western allies have stipulated that the weapons they sent to Ukraine could be used only for defensive purposes, not to attack Russia.

Such a measure would be avoided because a direct offensive against Russian territory with weapons supplied by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) could drastically worsen the war. Now, the West is changing the course of this policy and the conflict could enter a dangerous escalation