Kremlin warns of ‘fatal consequences’ for America as footage shows ‘first use of US missiles to destroy military targets inside Russia’
Footage has emerged of what is thought to be the first major use of Western-made weapons systems by Ukraine’s armed forces to destroy targets on Russian soil, prompting a top Kremlin official to warn of ‘fatal consequences’.
It is believed the Ukrainian military struck a S-300 or S-400 air defence system using US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and completely destroyed it in a devastating attack yesterday.
A stunning clip taken by a Russian soldier and shared to the Telegram messaging service showed a huge blaze raging in a field of Belgorod, a Russian region that borders Ukraine across the border from Kharkiv.
The Russian weapons platform is typically used by Moscow to down any aerial threats from Kyiv but also used as an offensive weapon to deliver punishing missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.
The attack comes days after US President Joe Biden for the first time gave Kyiv limited permission to deploy American-made weapons on targets inside Russia in a bid to stem Vladimir Putin’s debilitating strikes on Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv.
Until now, US weapons were only cleared for use in Ukrainian territory annexed by Russian forces, representing a significant shift in the White House’s policy toward the conflict.
The site of a Russian air defence system in Belgorod is pictured on fire following what is thought to have been a HIMARS strike
Footage shows the first known use of US-supplied HIMARS missiles by Ukraine hitting a key military target inside Russia
An air defence system is pictured lying in ruins in a Belgorod field
A pilot practices with a drone on a training ground in Kyiv region on February 29, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine
A Ukrainian military stands with people next to F-16 fighter jets during an inspection visit of Ukraine’s President to Belgium in an agreement to help Kyiv battle Russia’s invasion, at the Melsbroek military airport in Steenokkerzeel, north-east of Brussels on May 28, 2024
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference after the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, Sunday, June 2, 2024
‘The enemy has begun using Western-made weapon systems to attack ‘old’ Russian territory,’ said Russian military blogger Evgeniy Poddubny – who is one of a handful of journalists routinely touring frontline Russian positions – reported.
Following news of the attack, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned the ongoing use of Western weapons to hit targets in Russia would be met with ‘fatal consequences’.
‘I would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,’ state news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying.
The deputy minister also referred to comments last week by President Vladimir Putin, who said NATO countries were playing with fire and risking a deeper global conflict – one of a series of warnings from Moscow about the risk of a serious escalation.
‘I urge these figures (in the US)… to spend some of their time, which they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the lightness of their approach, on studying what was said in detail by Putin,’ Ryabkov said.
Putin had delivered ‘a very significant warning and it must be taken with the utmost seriousness’, he added.
Putin said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, because such attacks would require its satellite, intelligence and military help.
But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that NATO had the right to help Ukraine uphold its own right to self-defence, and this did not make NATO a party to the conflict.
The Netherlands has since declared it intends to allow the Ukrainian air force to use its F-16 fighter jets to carry out strikes in Russia.
The move was confirmed by Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren who, in an interview with Politico this weekend, said there was not a ‘Belgian-style restriction’, referring to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s warning that Kyiv will not fly the F-16 jets that come from Belgium into Russian airspace.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Middle East in the State Dining room at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 31, 2024
Ukrainian kamikaze drones destroy Russian military convoy in Kursk region, Russia
One truck is seen exploding after being struck by a Ukrainian drone
A military truck explodes as it is struck by a kamikaze drone
Aerial drone footage shows how the military column dispersed after the first hits, but the Ukrainian drone operators chased the scattered vehicles
A military convoy was broken up in the strike in Kursk
This attack, also conducted on Russian soil, was by Ukrainian-made strike drones rather than Western weapons
‘We are applying the same principle that we have applied to every other delivery of capabilities, which is once we hand it over to Ukraine, it’s theirs to use,’ said Ollongren.
‘We only ask them to comply to international law and the right to self-defense as stated in the U.N. Charter, which means they use it to target the military goals they need to target in their self-defence,’ Ollongren added.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multi-role fighter jet originally developed for the United States Air Force, but is in use with militaries around the world.
Meanwhile, a slew of other videos were released depicted the punishing losses dealt by Kyiv’s armed forces on Russian assets on both sides of the border.
In Russia’s Kursk region, a military convoy was repeatedly struck by a Ukrainian kamikaze drone ambush and suffered significant losses.
Aerial drone footage shows how the military column dispersed after the first hits, but the Ukrainian drone operators chased the scattered vehicles and picked them off one by one in a menacing display of the effectiveness of unmanned aerial vehicles and first-person-view (FPV) drones.
The attacked column included conscripts – Putin’s youngest soldiers, some aged 18 and 19 – according to Russian sources – though the exact scale of the losses is not confirmed.
This attack, also conducted on Russian soil, was by Ukrainian-made strike drones rather than Western weapons.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident the turret of a Russian T-80BV – one of Russia’s top tanks – was seen blasted dozens of feet in the air amid a fireball explosion caused by another Ukrainian kamikaze drone strike.
The drone’s payload ignited the ammunition held within the disabled tank, triggering a gargantuan blast that completely engulfed the armour and send the turret and chunks of metal flying sky high.
The turret of a Russian T-80BV – one of Russia’s top battle tanks – was seen blasted dozens of feet in the air amid a fireball explosion
The drone’s payload ignited the ammunition held within the disabled tank
A gargantuan blast that completely engulfed the armour and send the turret and chunks of metal flying sky high
Consumer drones have been adapted to drop grenades and small bombs on enemy infantry and armoured vehicles, to devastating effect
Ukrainian drone operator demonstrates piloting of a long-range UAV
The cannon fodder strategy of the Russian army was also highlighted by a contract soldier fighting in Vovchansk, who revealed in a video message shared to Telegram that in his company of 100, only 12 of his comrades remained alive and not wounded.
In a scathing indictment of the Kremlin’s military strategy, he spoke on his fear of facing death or maiming with the ‘forward, forward, forward’ strategy of his commanders who ‘sit in Moscow’ and ‘don’t ****ing care’ about the losses of men.
The soldiers were ‘complete meat’, he said.
‘We arrived in Vovchansk, and the first night somehow turned out more or less normal,’ he said.
‘We occupied one street, and then this heat began… ‘[We were] under machine guns, especially drones that [strike] such a large number of personnel.
‘And a command over the radio keeps shouting ”forward, forward, forward, forward!” You can’t go back….
‘Of 100 people, only 12 of our company remained. It turns out they simply chop us up, and that’s it… And those who sit in Moscow, they don’t ****ing care.’
Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces today claimed that Russia suffered 1,270 casualties in just the past 24 hours amid bitter fighting.
This figure would stand among the highest one-day casualty tolls of the war so far, but is impossible to verify independently.
