Monday, after accusing the US of attacking an American strike on Russian-occupied Crimea, Russia called US Ambassador Lynne Tracy to its Foreign Ministry and threatened to retaliate. Russia claims that Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles provided by the United States were used in the attack, which left at least four people dead and 150 injured.
The details of the retaliatory actions were not disclosed by the Russian Foreign Ministry. But it further raised the stakes between the two countries by accusing the United States of providing the weapons used in the attack. John Bass, acting undersecretary for political affairs at the U.S. State Department, responded by stating that he was not aware of the number of casualties from the strike but that Russia and Ukraine had taken different military strategies.
The U.S. recently authorized Ukraine to use longer-range missiles provided by the U.S. within Russia, but only in self-defense capacities. This decision has sparked concern among Western countries about potential escalation of the conflict with Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move widely condemned internationally but maintained by Russia.
Meanwhile, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has put sanctions on the country for the fourteenth time. One of the restrictions imposed by the EU is the ban on refilling Russian LNG containers in those nations for export to other nations. In the midst of continuous attempts to stop Russia's aggression, the EU has stepped up measures against specific people and organizations in an effort to stop them from being circumvented.
