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The Russian military said Moscow could hit military facilities in Kiev if Ukraine continues to threaten Russian territory with subversive moves.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Moscow has until now avoided attacking Ukrainian decision-making centers, but if Ukraine maintains its aggressive posture, the Russian Armed Forces will target those facilities, the ministry warned.
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On Wednesday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that in recent weeks it had been seen that Ukrainian military forces are trying to carry out subversive actions against Russia and attacking facilities in the country, so if these activities continue, Moscow will respond accordingly by targeting decision-making centers in Ukraine, Konashenkov said.
Local media reported that air defenses in the Belgorod region have been quite active in the past week. On April 1, an attack by two helicopters on a fuel depot in the south of the Belgorod city was first claimed by Kiev and later denied. No one was injured as a result of the attack, but it damaged a great deal of material infrastructure.
A rocket attack conducted on March 29 with at least three Tochka-U missiles fired from Ukraine against a military unit near Belgorod is also under investigation by authorities in Russia. Cluster munitions, which are outlawed on an international level, injured eight Russian citizens and caused damage to 21 vehicles and some buildings.
Igor Konashenkov: "We see attempts of sabotage and strikes by #Ukrainia on the territory of the Russia. If such cases continue, then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will strike at decision-making centers, including Kyiv, from which the Russian army has so far refrained pic.twitter.com/dduujG6bUr
— FortyTwo (@MDFortyTwo) April 13, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine last February 24 after seven years of confrontation due to Kiev's failure to implement the Minsk agreements and put an end to the conflict with the Donbass region. Russia eventually recognized the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, which led to a worsening of the conflict, prompting the leaders of the Donbass region to ask for Russian military assistance.
Putin has repeatedly said that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and that the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying the country. Russia's Defense Ministry said the Russian Armed Forces only targeted military infrastructure facilities.
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