LAST UPDATE | 18 Nov
RUSSIA HAS WARNED of an “appropriate response” if Ukraine fires Western-supplied long-range missiles against Russian territory, hours after US President Joe Biden gave Kyiv permission for such strikes.
“Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles to attack our territory would represent the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in hostilities against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Russia’s response in such a case will be appropriate and palpable,” it added.
Biden’s shift in policy has added an uncertain and potentially crucial new factor to the war on the eve of its 1,000-day milestone.
“It’s obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps in order to continue fuelling the fire and provoke a further escalation of tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
News of Biden’s change came on the day a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy, a city in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people, including two children, and injuring 84 others.
Today, another Russian missile attack started fires in two apartment blocks in Odesa, in southern Ukraine.
The attack killed 10 people and wounded more than 40.
Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with US-made weaponry, US officials told The Associated Press yesterday, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato.
The scope of the new firing guidelines is not clear.
But the change came after the US, South Korea and Nato said recently that North Korean troops are in Russia and are apparently being deployed to help the Russian army drive Ukrainian troops out of Russia’s Kursk border region.
Russia is also slowly pushing Ukraine’s outnumbered army backwards in the eastern Donetsk region.
It has also conducted a devastating and deadly aerial campaign against civilian areas in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today referred journalists to a statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would significantly raise the stakes in the conflict.
It would change “the very nature of the conflict dramatically”, Putin said at the time.
“This will mean that Nato countries – the United States and European countries – are at war with Russia.”
Peskov claimed that Western countries supplying long-range weapons also provide targeting services to Kyiv.
“This fundamentally changes the modality of their involvement in the conflict,” he said.
Last June, Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to Nato allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory.
He also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in about two months’ time, has raised uncertainty about whether his administration would continue the United States’ vital military support for Ukraine.
He has also vowed to quickly end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a muted response to the approval that he and his government have been requesting of Biden for more than a year.
I am deeply grateful to all our partners who support us with air defense systems and missiles. This is a truly global effort. Every time Russia carries out such attacks, it underscores how critical it is that partners don’t leave systems like Patriot and others sitting idle in… pic.twitter.com/4VZu4JpzxG
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 17, 2024
“Today, much is being said in the media about us receiving permission for the relevant actions,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
“But strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves,” he said.
The foreign minister of Nato member Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said he is not “opening the champagne” yet as it remains unclear exactly what restrictions have been lifted and whether Ukraine has enough of the US weapons to make a difference.
Margus Tsahkna, the foreign minister of Estonia which is another Baltic country that fears a military threat from Russia, said easing restrictions on Ukraine was “a good thing”.
“We have been saying that from the beginning – that no restrictions must be put on the military support,” he said at a meeting of senior European Union diplomats in Brussels.
“And we need to understand that situation is more serious (than) it was even maybe like a couple of months ago.”
Meanwhile, China, which has presented itself as a neutral party to the Ukraine war, urged a peaceful settlement.
“An early ceasefire and a political solution serve the interests of all parties,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular briefing, when asked about the US decision.
“The most urgent thing is to promote the cooling down of the situation as soon as possible,” he said.
With reporting rom AFP
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