By Aaron Miller-
Russia has warned the US that it would cross a “red line” and become “a party to the conflict” if it decides to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles for the American-made HIMARS systems in use by Ukraine.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added in a press briefing that Russia “reserves the right to defend its territory”.
“The United States and its allies, who supply weapons to the Kyiv regime, are actually becoming accomplices in its war crimes,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“If Washington decides to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles, it will cross the red line and become a direct party to the conflict.
The warning comes as news emerged that president Volodymyr Zelensky’s home city was hit by missiles, which caused flooding after a dam was struck.
Russia has been marginalised by the west and NATO countries ever since its unlawful invasion of Ukraine. Several Russian oligarchs have been sanctioned and had their assets frozen.
In the meantime, Russia is depending on China for high purchases of gas which has amounted to £37billion so far this year.
Russia also wants Beijing to sell it microchips that its military desperately needs for hi-tech weapons.
Soldiers are increasingly relying on ancient stocks of primitive Soviet-era munitions while Ukrainian forces are turning the tide with pinpoint strikes using Western armaments.
Kryvyi Rih, the largest city in central Ukraine with an estimated pre-war population of 650,000, was hit by eight cruise missiles on Wednesday, officials said.
The strikes hit the Karachunov reservoir dam, Mr Zelensky said in a video address released early on Thursday. The water system had “no military value” and hundreds of thousands of civilians depend on it daily, he said.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Krivyi Rih military administration, said in a post on Telegram that 112 homes were flooded but that works to repair the dam on the Inhulets river were underway and that “flooding was receding”.