Ukraine test fired 16 missiles in the Black Sea Thursday, despite Russia’s claim it would retaliate with military force.
The tests sites were miles away from the disputed territory of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Russian Ministry of Defense warned Thursday, “that in case of detecting the launched missiles in the specified area they will be destroyed by the air defence forces of the armed forces of the Russian federation.”
Ukraine paid no heed to the warning, saying the proposed missile test sites were 19 miles outside of Crimean airspace, and thus in international waters. Russia appeared to back off the claim, saying Ukraine moved the test site to “outside the borders of the Russian Federation.” The Ukrainian government did not confirm that.
The missile threats are the latest in a series of troubling confrontations between the two countries. Russia massed tens of thousands of troops, accompanied by armored personnel carriers, on the Crimean border in August. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko openly feared “full-scale Russian invasion” at the time.
U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal then that they believed Russia may be trying to bait the Ukrainian government into a military confrontation. If Ukraine initiated a military confrontation, it would counter the Western narrative of Russian aggression and justify another Russian military incursion into Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine are also engaged in a proxy fight in Eastern Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military is battling Russian-backed separatists. Russia actively supports, arms, and mans separatist movements in Eastern Ukraine to undermine the Ukrainian government. Independent analyses confirm that Russia has supplied separatists with heavy weapons.
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