Russia Warns of Retaliation if Ukraine Strikes with Western Weapons

Russia has declared that it will respond by judging that the West has already permitted Ukraine to strike at Russian soil.

In an interview with the Russian daily Izvestia on the 12th (local time), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that “it was clearly decided a long time ago” to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons provided to Ukraine by the West, and that “(the West) is currently) conducting ‘cover discussions’.”

This is a commentary released in response to media reports that the West, including the United States, is considering whether to allow Ukraine to strike the Russian mainland with Western weapons.

“(Allowing the use of Western weapons) will significantly increase the level of involvement of Western countries in the war in Ukraine,” Peskov said. “Of course, Russia will react accordingly.”

Peskov went on to predict that if Ukraine attacks Russia’s mainland with Western weapons, terrorist attacks targeting social infrastructure will continue.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors on the Ukraine issue that day that he had “no doubt that the West has already decided to lift restrictions on the use of long-range missiles so that Ukraine can strike Russian territory,” TASS reported. Lavrov claimed that the West is trying to publicize this decision “beautifully and elegantly.”

The West had set a condition that the weapons provided to Ukraine could not be used to attack the Russian mainland, but in May this year, it relaxed this condition to allow them to strike Russian territory in the event of a defensive counterattack. Recently, Ukraine has requested that it be allowed to strike the Russian rear with the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a type of long-range surface-to-surface missile provided by the United States, and the Storm Shadow cruise missile provided by the United Kingdom, and the West is discussing a plan to partially allow this, according to reports in the American media outlet Politico and the British daily The Guardian.