President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that Russia’s Defense Ministry is working on different ways to respond if the United States and its NATO allies help Ukraine attack their country’s territory with long-range Western missiles.
The war in Ukraine, which has already lasted two and a half yearshas triggered the largest confrontation between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War, and Russian authorities say the conflict is entering its most dangerous phase.
Russia has been telling the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give Ukraine permission to attack Russian territory with missiles supplied by the West, Moscow will consider it a major escalation.
On September 12, Putin declared that Western approval of such a measure would mean “the direct involvement of NATO countries, “United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine,” since NATO infrastructure and military personnel would have to participate in firing the missiles.
Putin said it is too early to say exactly how Russia would react to such a move, but stressed that Moscow would have to respond accordingly and that different options were being examined.
“(The Ministry of Defense) is thinking on how to respond to possible long-range attacks on Russian territory, will offer a range of responses”Putin told Russian state television’s top Kremlin reporter Pavel Zarubin.
With Russia advancing at the fastest pace in eastern Ukraine since the first months of the invasion,Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pleading with the West to allow kyiv to attack Russian territory with Western missiles.
The United States has not said publicly whether it will allow Ukraine to attack Russia, But some officials in Washington are very skeptical that doing so would make a significant difference in the war.
Ukrainian forces already regularly attack Russia with long-range drones.
Asked whether the West had listened to Russia’s warnings, Putin told Zarubin: “I hope they have. Because, of course, we will have to make some decisions too.”
