Beside the usual sirens, residents in the capital, Kyiv, were jolted early Tuesday by a new type of loud alarm that blared automatically from mobile phones. The caustic-sounding alert was accompanied by a text warning of the possibility of missile strikes.
Ryabkov said in remarks carried by the state RIA-Novosti news agency that “Russia will be forced to take relevant countermeasures, including asymmetrical ones.” He said that although Russia isn’t “interested in a direct clash” with the U.S. and NATO, “we hope that Washington and other Western capitals are aware of the danger of an uncontrollable escalation.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said it’s unlikely a joint Russian-Belarus force would launch an attack on Ukraine from the north. Although Ukrainian officials said Russia’s missile strikes on Monday made no “practical military sense,” Putin said the “precision weapons” attack was in retaliation for what he claimed were Kyiv’s “terrorist” actions — a reference to Ukraine’s attempts to repel Moscow’s invasion, including an attack Saturday on a key bridge between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Putin alleged the bridge attack was masterminded by Ukrainian special services.