Russia on Sunday, 5 June, took aim at Kyiv for the first time in over a month, launching airstrikes that it claimed destroyed tanks received from abroad. This came after President Vladamir Putin warned that any Western deliveries of longer-range rockets will prompt Moscow to strike new targets, Reuters reported.
The attack left one person injured though there were no reports of deaths. The Reuters report added that dark smoke could be seen from far away after Russia's attack.
While Russia claimed that it destroyed tanks sent by Eastern European countries, Kyiv said that the strike hit a rail car repair works.
The head of the Ukrainian railway, Oleksandr Kamyshin, confirmed four missiles hit Eastern Kyiv's Darnytsia Rail Car repair facility but clarified that there was no military hardware at the site of the attack.
Putin's Warning
While Putin's cryptic military escalation threat did not specify what these new targets were, the statement came a few days after the US announced its latest military package for Ukraine which includes, precision-guided, medium-range rocket systems, as well as Javelin anti-tank systems and tactical vehicles.
Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that Moscow will strike new targets if Western countries supply Kyiv with long-range missiles, adding that these new deliveries were aimed at "prolonging the armed conflict".
If Kyiv is supplied with long-range missiles, "we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms.... to strike targets we haven't hit before," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
Putin further added that if Kyiv is supplied with long-range missiles, "we will drop appropriate conclusions and use our means of destruction... to strike at targets that we haven't hit before."
Ukrainian Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter, "Missile strikes at Kyiv have only one goal – kill as many as possible."
Ukrainian officials stated that a counter-attack had retaken half of the city in the eastern battlefield of Sievierodonetsk, where Russia recently concentrated its forces, the report added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he travelled to Soledar and Lysychansk, south from Sievierodonetsk.
The Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland, which Russia claims it is on a mission to "liberate," is formed of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk region and Soledar, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy's visits have become increasingly rare since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February.
Russia has focussed its forces towards the front lines in the east and south, with occasional strikes elsewhere as it continues its military campaign to block Western military shipments and to bring down Ukraine's military infrastructure.
Military Package From the US
Last week, the US said that it would send new, advanced medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine
As the war has dragged on, the Biden administration has progressively widened the array of weaponry it has provided to the Ukrainians, and the latest package will also include Javelin antitank missiles, artillery rounds, helicopters and tactical vehicles.
“We will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine,” the president wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday, 31 May.
While the US has been increasingly willing to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons including M777 howitzer artillery as forces battling Russia see greater success, the West has also been cautious about growing risks, especially after Russia's military performance falls short of Vladamir Putin's apparent ambitions.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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