Moscow has announced that its Kalibr cruise missiles struck a missile factory outside Kiev, overnight, and has promised more assaults on the Ukrainian capital should Ukraine continue its attacks on Russian territory.
Russia earlier accused Ukraine of shelling its Belgorod and Bryansk regions on Thursday, leaving eight residents injured, including a two-year-old boy and his pregnant mother.
A Russian warship was used to destroy the Vizar military factory outside Kiev, which was building and repairing anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.
Konashenkov warned that Moscow will “increase the number and scale of missile strikes” on the Ukrainian capital in response to attacks on Russian soil. He had issued a similar warning on Wednesday.
Russia claimed that Ukrainian helicopters crossed the border on Thursday, flying close to the ground and attacking the village of Klimovo in the Bryansk Region bordering Ukraine. Eight locals, including a two-year-old boy and his pregnant mother, were injured. Officials also said that a border checkpoint was shelled in the region the same day, as a group of Ukrainian refugees was passing through. No injuries were reported.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said two villages close to the border were evacuated after shelling by Ukraine on Thursday. “Our village of Zhuravlevka was shelled from the Ukrainian side,” he wrote on Telegram. “There is damage to homes and community buildings.” He later added that some residents of the villages were wounded.
On April 1, Moscow claimed that Ukrainian helicopters fired missiles at an oil depot in Belgorod, causing a massive fire at the facility.
Russia attacked its neighbor in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk Agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.