"Russia’s decision to strike with precision-guided weapons at infrastructure facilities in Ukraine was a response to terrorist acts committed in our country," Anatoly Antonov stated. "The responsibility for them lies entirely with the Kyiv regime."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an urgent Security Council meeting on Monday that a massive strike had been inflicted on Ukrainian energy, military command and communications facilities and warned Kyiv that if Ukraine tried to continue terrorist attacks in Russia, they would be met with a tough response.
"We did not expect any other reaction from the [US] administration," Antonov stressed. "However, we perceive the statements by the US leadership about their intention to support Zelensky with additional supplies of military products, including the latest models, as another proof that Washington has secured its own status as a participant of the conflict," he added, according to TASS.
US President Joe Biden held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Monday. Biden assured the Ukrainian leader that Washington would continue providing Kyiv with military aid.
"Such assistance, as well as providing Kyiv with intelligence, instructors and combat guidelines, leads to further escalation and increased the risks of a clash between Russia and NATO," the Russian diplomat noted. "Not to speak of Ukrainian forces repeatedly using Western arms to hit civilian infrastructure and residential buildings."
"We call on the United States and its allies not to cross the ‘red lines’ they have approached. Stop pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal arms. It will only lead to new victims and destruction, as well as further prolonging the conflict," Russian Ambassador to the United States Antonov added.
On the morning of October 8, a truck exploded on the Crimean Bridge, collapsing two eastbound parts of its road section and subsequently setting ablaze a train of fuel tanks on a separate, adjacent rail portion of the bridge.
As a result of the blast, three people were killed. A government commission chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin was set up after the incident. Rail traffic has been restored on the bridge, which was also partly reopened for buses and automobiles.
MNA/PR