Russia threatens “serious consequences” if US missiles are sent to Ukraine

THE Russia warned this Thursday the 15th that if the United States Confirming the deployment of the sophisticated Patriot antiaircraft missile system in Ukraine would be “another provocative move by the US” and could lead to a reaction Moscow🇧🇷

State Department spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “the US is effectively becoming a party” of the war in Ukraine and are subject to “reasonable responses”. The warning comes after reports that the US will supply Kyiv with Patriot surfacetoair missiles, the most advanced the West has ever supplied in support of the Soviet military. Ukraine to repel Russian air raids.

Zakharova added that increasing amounts of US military aid, including transfers of such sophisticated weapons, “would mean even broader military involvement in hostilities and could have potential consequences.” She did not specify what the consequences would be, but the President did Wladimir Putin spoke on Wednesday of “preventive strikes” such as those used by the United States in other conflicts.

Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto platforms at a train station near the Ukrainian border in February 2022. Photo: AP 02/23/2022

US officials said Tuesday Washington was on the verge of authorizing the deployment of a battery of Patriot missiles in Ukraine, in response to an urgent plea from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down Russian missiles that have crippled much of the country’s vital infrastructure . The official announcement is scheduled for next week.

The Patriot antiaircraft missile system may require up to 90 troops to operate and maintain, and the US has been reluctant to deliver the complex system for months because sending military personnel to Ukraine to deploy it is something that the US cannot afford. Government of the President Joe Biden would be a direct involvement in the war and could even justify Russian attacks on countries NATO🇧🇷

However, there are concerns that even without the presence of the US military to train Ukrainians in the use of the system, the use of the missiles could provoke Russia or risk a fired projectile hitting Russia’s interior, leading to further conflict.

Even before reports of the delivery of Patriot systems surfaced, Dmitry MedvedevDeputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, second only to Putin, warned that if Patriots missiles fly into Ukraine, “along with NATO personnel, they immediately become a legitimate target for our armed forces.”

Asked Wednesday whether Moscow supports the threat, the Kremlin spokesman said: Dmitry Peskovsaid yes, but added on a conference call with reporters that he would refrain from more detailed comment until the US officially announces the Patriot’s extradition to Ukraine.

The leaders of White House and the Pentagon said providing Ukraine with additional air defenses was a priority and Patriot missiles had been considered for some time. Officials said that as winter approached and the Russians increased their bombardment of civilian infrastructure, this consideration became increasingly important.

Ukrainian soldiers stand next to a destroyed armored vehicle in the liberated village of Petropavlivka near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. Photo: Sergei Bobok/ AFP 15.12.2022

Russian offensive against Kyiv

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Despite the apparent imminence of American aid, Ukrainian military commanders have increasingly expressed concern about a new largescale offensive by Russia against Kyiv and areas retaken during the counteroffensive launched in midSeptember.

In an interview with British magazine The Economist, President of Ukraine Volodmir Zelenskyy and Generals Valeri Zaluzhni, commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and Oleksandr Sirski, commander of the army, said they were convinced that Russia was preparing another major offensive in January and that all Ukrainian movements in this period preceding the new Russian invasion will be of fundamental importance in determining the future of the war.

“As in [2ª. Guerra]…somewhere beyond the Urals they are preparing new resources,” Zaluzhni said, referring to the Soviet decision to move defense industries east, out of reach of Nazi bombers. “They are 100% prepared.” A major Russian attack could happen “in February, at best in March and at worst in late January,” he added, before warning that the new offensive could reach anywhere: from Donbass to Dnipro or even Kyiv.

I have no doubt that they will try again in Kyiv.

Valeri Zaluzhni, Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, interviewed by The Economist

According to those responsible for Ukraine’s defense, the biggest Russian threat right now is the Kremlin’s military mobilization capacity, which recently called up 300,000 reservists to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine. “A tsar tells them to go to war, and they go to war,” said Zaluzhni.

“The enemy must not be discarded. They are not weak … and they have very great numerical potential,” Sirski said, noting that Russian recruits, even with claims that they had not had full military training and were armed only with small arms, had successfully delayed Ukrainian attacks in Kreminna and Svatove in Lugansk Governorate.

Other immediate concerns for Ukrainian military commanders are the new military exercises in Belarus a strategic stepping stone from Moscow to northern Ukraine early in the war and the ongoing fighting in the Donbass region, mainly in the town of Bakhmut, where a mobilization of regulars by Russian and others Troops from Chechnya and the Wagner mercenary group the latter often better equipped than the military are on the move.

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Ukraine’s electricity supplier said Thursday that the country’s power system was experiencing a “significant electricity deficit” and that emergency shutdowns had been enforced in some areas of the country as temperatures oscillate around or below zero.

Stateowned grid operator Ukrenergo warned in a statement on Facebook that adverse weather conditions such as snow, ice and strong winds will exacerbate damage to power infrastructure from Russian attacks.

High temperatures in the capital, Kyiv, are expected to barely hit freezing over the weekend, with even cooler weather expected early next week.

Frequent Russian bombings are increasingly targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Photo: Mykola Tys/ EFE

Kirilo Tymoshenko, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President of Ukraine, wrote on Telegram that the city Khersonin southern Ukraine, was completely without power after a Russian bomb attack on Thursday, adding that two people were killed in the attacks.

In an interview with The Economist, Ukrainian military commanders also reported that they feared the impact of the bombing of energy infrastructure on troop morale, who could lose focus on the fight due to concerns about their families’ situation.

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“It seems to me that we are at the limit,” warned General Zaluzhni. “Then the wives and children of the soldiers begin to freeze. What kind of morale will the fighters have?”

The head of the province DonetskIn eastern Ukraine, Pavlo Kirilenko reported Thursday that two civilians were killed and seven wounded in Russian attacks the previous day.

Kremlinbacked officials in the region, illegally annexed by Moscow in September, announced that Russia has taken control of 80% of the town of Marinka, seen as crucial to Ukraine’s hopes of retaking the regional capital, Donetsk .

Denis Pushilin, Moscow’s interim regional chief, told Russian state television that “the fighting is taking place in tall buildings.”/AP and The Economist