Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claimed on Wednesday that the United Kingdom was “leading an undeclared war against Russia.”
Medvedev’s post on Twitter came following Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s statement that Ukraine “has the legitimate right to … project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.”
The former Russian leader went on to say, “The goofy officials of the UK, our eternal enemy, should remember that within the framework of the universally accepted international law which regulates modern warfare, including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols, their state can also be qualified as being at war.”
Britain is the first country to publicly supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply depots far behind the front lines as it prepares a major counter-offensive.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary Cleverly has stated that Ukraine “has the legitimate right to … project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.” According to him, legitimate military targets beyond Ukraine’s border are part of its…
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) May 31, 2023
Ukraine targets Moscow
Cleverly’s defense of Ukraine on Tuesday came the same day Moscow was targeted by drones, an offensive move by Ukraine in response to weeks of intensive attacks on Kyiv by Russian drones. In these attacks, Russia used more than 300 Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
According to Russian state TASS media, Russia has said that “Moscow and the Moscow Region were attacked by drones… Several buildings sustained minor damage, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said. According to the authorities, there were no casualties and emergency services are continuing to work at the scene.”
The Kyiv Post reported that “Moscow was targeted by a drone attack causing ‘minor’ damage to several buildings but no casualties, according to the city’s mayor.” Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov was quoted as claiming several were intercepted. Russia has used more than 300 drones, according to data gathered from Ukrainian Air Force reports, to attack Ukraine. They are mostly of the delta-wing Shahed 136 type.
Seth Frantzman and Reuters contributed to this report.
