Russia: US and UK 'fully dragged into conflict' if Crimea bombed

Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to attack annexed Crimea with long-range United States and British missiles and warned it would retaliate if that happened. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu told a meeting of military officials on Tuesday that Moscow possesses information that Ukraine plans to strike Crimea with US-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket systems and British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. "The use of these missiles outside the zone of our special military operation would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine," Shoigu said. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and considers it to be outside the scope of its invasion – which is focused in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Ukraine is fighting to retake territory. Kyiv, which says it is battling for its survival in a war of colonial conquest, said it wants to reclaim all of its territory, including Crimea, the home of Russia's Black Sea naval base.