Russia and Ukraine: Anthony Blinken denies any role for his country in enabling Kyiv to strike targets inside Russian territory

The US-led NATO military alliance has ruled out supplying such weapons to Kiev, amid fears that this would lead to a major escalation with nuclear Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24.

It was reported that explosions occurred on Monday at two Russian airports, located in the “Ryazan” and “Saratov” regions. The two sites include strategic bombers used to carry out regular missile attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure.

Russia said another attack took place on Tuesday in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

Russia’s latest missile attack on Ukraine took place on Monday, when 70 missiles were fired at targets in separate parts of the country. Those attacks left four people dead, according to local officials.

Millions of people across the country now live without electricity and running water, raising fears that people will die from hypothermia in sub-zero temperatures.

Blinken, in a press briefing on Tuesday, accused Russia of “trying to destroy the civilian infrastructure that allows people to get heat, water and electricity.”

He said Moscow was now working to “weaponize winter” and “that is the reality (people live) day and night in Ukraine”.

“We did not encourage or enable the Ukrainians to strike (targets) inside Russia, but the important thing is to understand what Ukrainians live every day with the continued Russian aggression against their country,” Blinken said.

He added that he was determined that Ukrainians would have “the equipment they need to defend themselves, their land and their freedom”.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who was speaking next to Blinken, emphasized that the United States would not prevent Ukraine from developing its capabilities to strike long-range targets.

“The short answer is no. We absolutely won’t,” Austin said, adding that Washington has already provided Ukraine with more than $19 billion in security assistance.

In other developments that took place on Tuesday:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the forces in the eastern Donetsk region, where fierce fighting has been going on for weeks

In the evening, one person was injured in Russian strikes in the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, local officials said.

Officials appointed by Russia in the city of Donetsk – which has been under Moscow’s control since 2014 – said that six people were killed in Ukrainian artillery shelling.