WASHINGTON: Russia promised retaliatory measures on the United States Monday when it summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy to the Foreign Ministry and blamed the U.S. for a strike on Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russia claims the attack was carried out with U.S.-supplied missiles.

“Retaliatory measures will certainly follow,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. It did not provide further information.

Russia said U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, was used in the strike that killed at least four people and wounded 150.

John Bass, the State Department’s acting undersecretary for political affairs, told VOA he was not aware of the strike’s death toll, but he said there has been a marked contrast in the way Ukraine and Russia execute their attacks.

He said Ukraine seeks to minimize civilian casualties, while Russia’s strikes have been brutal from the beginning.

Last week, the U.S. gave Ukraine permission to use U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles inside Russia but only for self-defense. Western countries have been reluctant to let Ukraine use their weapons in Russia because they do not want to provoke Russia and escalate the conflict.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world has rejected. Russia, however, continues to consider Crimea part of Russia.

New EU sanctions

The European Union approved Monday its 14th round of sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

The package includes a ban on the practice of reloading Russian liquefied natural gas containers in an EU country, which is then sent to a third country.

There are sanctions targeting 116 people and entities, and increased measures to ensure companies do not circumvent existing sanctions.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he stressed the importance of the new sanctions “to further strangle Putin’s war economy,” as he addressed a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.

“Separately, I emphasized the need to expedite military aid deliveries, especially air defense, and expand defense industrial output,” Kuleba said on X. “We can and must defeat Russian aggression on Ukrainian soil to ensure long-term peace and stability throughout Europe.”

Ahead of Monday’s council meeting, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg, “Ukraine needs more help, and needs more help now.”

Borrell pointed to the Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland earlier this month, contrasting what he said was the opening of a diplomatic process to the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea to try to secure more weapons for Russia’s war effort.

Borrell said Putin “is clearly preparing for a long war.”

Ukrainian officials reported a Russian missile attack Monday on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa that injured at least three people.

Ukraine’s military said Russia used two cruise missiles in the attack, with Ukrainian air defenses preventing one of the missiles from reaching its target.

Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa, said on Telegram the attack hit civilian infrastructure and caused a fire.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday its air defenses destroyed four Ukrainian aerial drones over the Rostov region.

Regional Governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram that falling debris from a downed drone hit an industrial site, but there were no reports of injuries.

VOA