Russian Official Threatens ‘Doomsday’ If Ukraine Attacks Crimea

A Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is test-launched by the Russian military at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk region, Russia, in this still image taken from a video released on April 20, 2022. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via Reuters

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine would be “faced with a doomsday” if the country launches an attack on Crimea.

In a warning on Sunday, Medvedev was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as saying that “some ecstatic bloody clowns, who pop up there with some statements now and then, are trying to threaten us, I mean attacks on Crimea and so on.”

“Should anything of the kind happen, they will be faced with a doomsday, very quick and tough, immediately? There will be no avoiding it. But they keep on provoking the general situation by such statements,” he added. Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, did not elaborate.

The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014 after Ukraine’s color revolution. Russia claimed that it has a centuries-old historical claim on the region, which is not recognized as a Russian territory by the United States and other Western countries.

Medvedev’s remarks came one day after a Ukrainian official suggested that Crimea could be a target for U.S.-made HIMARS missiles, which were recently sent to Kyiv as a Biden administration-approved aid package.

Response

Vadym Skibitskyi, an official at Ukrainian military intelligence, was asked on Saturday in a televised interview if HIMARS could be used on targets in Crimea. He said Russia had carried out strikes on Ukrainian territory from Crimea and the Black Sea and so these were also justified targets.

Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev attends a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9, 2022. Sputnik/Ekaterina Shtukina/Pool via Reuters

The Russian Black Sea naval fleet is located in Sevastopol, Crimea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Medvedev’s comment by saying that his forces won’t be intimidated.

“Today, another not-so-sober statement was made from Russia about the alleged ”doomsday“ for Ukraine. Of course, no one will accept such intimidation,” Zelenskyy said, according to Ukrainian media. “But look how cynical it is to say the same thing today—on the next anniversary of Russia’s destruction of the Malaysian Boeing in the sky over the Ukrainian Donbas.”

Over the past weekend, the U.S. Department of Defense proclaimed that the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missiles are “effective in Ukraine.”

“I think there has been significant impact on what’s going on, on the front lines,” a Pentagon official said, according to a transcript from the Defense Department. “If you think about the fact that the Ukrainians have been talking about a number of the targets [they] are hitting ... they’re spending a lot of time striking targets like ammunition, supplies, other logistical supplies, command and control. And all those things have a direct impact on the ability to conduct operations on the front line. ... Although they’re not shooting the HIMARS at the front lines, they are having a very, very significant effect on that.”

Reuters contributed to this report.