Ukraine ramps up counter attacks, Russia vows ‘doomsday’ if Crimea hit

Lviv/Moscow, Jul 17 (EFE).- With the arrival of precise Western weaponry, Ukraine is confident it can defend its military positions in the country’s east with ramped-up counter attacks while Russia on Sunday warned of “doomsday” if Kyiv targets Crimea.

“Ukraine has withstood Russia’s brutal blows. We have already managed to liberate part of the territory that was occupied after February 24. We will gradually liberate other regions of our state that are currently under the occupation,” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Saturday evening.

This weekend, Ukrainian military sources said they hoped to receive two NASAMS air defense systems. Produced by Norway, NASAMS have a strike radius of 25 kilometers

Ukraine has also been provided with United States-made HIMARS and British M270 rocket systems.

The HIMARS have already allowed Ukraine to change the course of the battle in the country’s east, where the fighting is heaviest, according to defense minister Oleksii Reznikov.

The GPS-guided missiles can strike precise targets deep behind the front lines.

But none of those weapons should be used against Crimea, a territory annexed by Russia in 2014, Moscow warned Sunday.

“Should anything of the kind happen, they will be faced with a doomsday, very quick and tough, immediately. ” said Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian security council, and a former president and prime minister.

“There will be no avoiding it,” he added, according to the Tass news agency.

Ukrainian defense ministry sources have previously not ruled out using HIMARS to strike military targets in Crimea, particularly against Kalibr cruise missile launch sites. EFE

int-mos/jt