Airstrikes in Russia stir anger in Moscow

Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of carrying out a helicopter strike on a border town in its territory, and warned that it may deploy nuclear weapons close to the Baltic states and Scandinavia if Finland and Sweden join NATO.

Klimovo, the town that came under attack, is in the southern Bryansk region, and is about 10 kilometers from the border and 500 kilometers from Moscow.

"Using two military helicopters carrying heavy weaponry, Ukrainian armed forces illegally entered Russian airspace," Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement.

"Flying low, acting deliberately, they carried out at least six airstrikes on residential buildings in the settlement of Klimovo," investigators said. As a result, they said, "at least six residential buildings were damaged... and seven people received injuries of varying severity including one small child who was born in 2020".

It appears to be the first time that Moscow has officially accused the Ukrainian armed forces of sending helicopters into Russia to carry out an attack.

Earlier, the governor of the Belgorod region in southern Russia, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said two Ukrainian military helicopters had carried out a strike on a fuel depot on April 1; the incident was not directly confirmed by Ukraine or Moscow.

Thursday's attack had been announced by governor Alexander Bogomaz, who said on Telegram that "two residential buildings were damaged and some of the residents were injured".

A Russian Health Ministry official, Alexei Kuznetsov, told the RIA Novosti news agency that the seven injured were in hospital, adding that two were in serious condition and required surgery.

The helicopter strike was carried out around the time that the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, was "seriously damaged" and later sank.

The Russian Defense Ministry had earlier said the Moskva "remains afloat" after munitions on board exploded, before saying the ship sank late on Thursday.

Ukraine said the ship had been hit in a rocket attack. A spokesman for the Odessa military region, Sergey Bratchuk, said the Moskva was damaged by "Neptune domestic cruise missiles" in an account largely echoed by the regional governor.

In developments that have increased tensions, Finland said this past week that it will decide whether to apply for NATO membership within weeks and Sweden is also discussing membership of the alliance.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, warned on Thursday that nuclear weapons might be moved closer to the Baltic states and Scandinavia if the two northern European countries joined NATO. In that event, the length of Russia's land borders with NATO members would more than double, Medvedev said.

"In this case, it would not be possible to talk anymore about the Baltic non-nuclear status. The balance has to be restored," he said, indicating that Russia would be entitled to deploy nuclear weapons in the region.

Russia would seriously reinforce its group of ground forces and air defenses and deploy significant naval forces in the Gulf of Finland, Medvedev warned.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn