On the brink: Russia's Medvedev points finger at U.S. for attack

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a stern online warning after Kyiv launched an attack on Russian-occupied Crimea using American-supplied missiles. The assault resulted in several deaths and more than a hundred injuries.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported the United States was responsible for an attack carried out by Ukraine on Crimea that killed four people and wounded one hundred and fifty-one more people because American weapons were involved. 

Four U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles fitted with cluster warheads were claimed to have been used in the attack by Russia’s Defense Ministry according to Reuters, which added that a fifth was allegedly shot down. 

"Responsibility for the deliberate missile attack on the civilians of Sevastopol is borne above all by Washington, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine, and by the Kyiv regime, from whose territory this strike was carried out," the defense ministry said.

Reuters reported that Russian state television showed beachgoers being carried off a beach in Crimea on sunchairs following the attack and added that Russian authorities in the peninsula claimed missile fragments began falling on the beach around noon. 

Photo Credit: Screenshot X @RussianEmbassy

Several prominent Russian politicians reacted to the incident and Reuters reported that Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council and leading anti-Western voice in Russia, called the situation "a vile, despicable act against our people".

Medvedev took to Telegram to denounce what happened in a fiery and furious message that he likened to a terrorist attack carried out in Dagestan by gunmen on the same day. 

"The b*****ds from the USA supply missiles with cluster charges to Bandera's supporters and help guide them to the target. The b*****ds in Kyiv select a beach with peaceful people as a target and press the button,” Medvedev wrote according to Newsweek. 

“Both will burn in h***. I hope, not only in sacred fire, but even earlier — in earthly fire," Medvedev added. "Everything that happened was not military action, but a vile and vile terrorist attack against our people, committed on an Orthodox holiday.”

“Just like the massacre in Dagestan, which was carried out by extremists. Therefore, now all of them - the American authorities, the Bandera regime and crazy fanatics - are no different for us. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims. Speedy recovery to the wounded," Medvedev concluded. 

Newsweek reported that Stephan Bandera was a prominent Ukrainian Nationalist during World War II. However, Bandera is a polarizing figure in modern Ukraine depending on which side of the current conflict one stands. 

Bandera is seen by many Ukrainians as a freedom fighter who fought against the Soviet Union while pro-Separatists in eastern Ukraine see Bandera as a Nazi supporter and ally of Adolf Hitler.  

On June 23rd, gunmen in Dagestan opened fire in two different cities of the Russian province that saw at least fifteen police officers and four civilians killed, including one priest according to reporting from CNN. The death toll rose to 19 on June 24th. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense promised that Moscow would respond to the attack on June 23rd. Reuters noted that the United States began to supply Ukraine with long-range ATACMs that could reach 300 kilometers or 186 miles earlier in 2024. 

"You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington, the press secretaries, why their governments are killing Russian children,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the attack. 

How Russia will respond to the missile incident in Crimea has yet to be seen, but Dmitry Antonov and Guy Faulconbridge of Reuters pointed out that Russia has vowed to retaliate against the United States.

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