‘Strikes deep inside Russia … will mean US and Europe are at war with Russia’: Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West would be directly involved in conflict if it permitted Ukraine to strike Russian territory using Western long-range weapons and said that it will change the very “essence and nature” of the conflict.

The Russian leader’s remarks were made on Thursday, a day ahead of Friday’s meeting between UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Joe Biden in the White House in which discussions will be on whether to let Kyiv use long-range missiles against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelelnskyy has has been pressing the Biden administration and other Western governments to authorise long-range missile strikes in Russia and pressurise Moscow to end the conflict.

On being asked about statements in the US and UK that Ukraine will be allowed to conduct strikes in Russia with long-range weapons, Putin said, “What we are seeing is an attempt to substitute notions. Because this is not a question of whether the Kiev regime is allowed or not allowed to strike targets on Russian territory. It is already carrying out strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles and other means. But using Western-made long-range precision weapons is a completely different story. The fact is that – I have mentioned this, and any expert, both in our country and in the West, will confirm this – the Ukrainian army is not capable of using cutting-edge high-precision long-range systems supplied by the West. They cannot do that.”

“These weapons are impossible to employ without intelligence data from satellites which Ukraine does not have. This can only be done using the European Union’s satellites, or US satellites – in general, NATO satellites. This is the first point. The second point – perhaps the most important, the key point even – is that only NATO military personnel can assign flight missions to these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. Therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is about deciding whether NATO countries become directly involved in the military conflict or not,” he added.

In response to a media query, Putin warned that the West will have direct involvement in the conflict if they allowed Ukraine to use long-range missiles. He asserted that Russia will make “appropriate decisions” in response to the threats posed to it.

Putin said, “If this decision is made, it will mean nothing short of direct involvement – it will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine. This will mean their direct involvement in the conflict, and it will clearly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict dramatically.”

“This will mean that NATO countries – the United States and European countries – are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us,” he added. At a joint press conference in Poland with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, ” Ensuring security of Ukraine, a strategic forefront of the entire North Atlantic Treaty Organization is our joint priority, and we shall continue our efforts. Poland remains a strong advocate of increasing the pressure on the Russian regime in order to force it to end the conflict against Ukraine.”

“From the very beginning, we were a front runner when it comes to providing military and other kinds of assistance. As the West, we shall continue supplying Ukraine with advanced air defense and antimissiles defense systems. We shall also lift the ban on using long-range weapons. We are sure that the economic sanctions are bringing the expected effect, and we hope that more intense activities will be taken with regard to seizing frozen Russian assets,” he said.

Blinken was in Poland after visiting Ukraine with UK foreign Secretary David Lammy.

“We went to Kyiv to underscore our united and unwavering support for Ukraine, faced with the ongoing Russian aggression – the United States, United Kingdom, but also united with so many other countries who have come together in support of Ukraine, all committed not just to helping Ukraine ward off the aggression, but committed to Ukraine’s long term success, its success as a country that stands strongly on its own two feet militarily, economically, democratically. And in our conversations in Kyiv, we talked about our shared strategy to get there, Blinken said at the joint press conference in Warsaw.

Earlier on September 6, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs to have long-range capability not only on the divided territory of Ukraine but also on Russian territory.

Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base, Zelenskyy stated, “We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace.”

Al Jazeera cited the Ukrainian leader as saying, “We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

The US has pledged an additional USD 250 million in military aid for Ukraine. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin made the announcement at the meeting of the UDCG.

It has regularly gathered representatives of around 50 nations that provide arms to Ukraine since the war between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022.

Austin said, “It will surge in more capabilities to meet Ukraine’s evolving requirements. And we’ll deliver them at the speed of war.”

Following the meeting, Lloyd Austin seems to push back against Ukraine’s wish to lift arms restrictions, telling reporters that no specific weapon would be a game changer.

Amid the ongoing war, which began in 2022, Ukrainian forces are currently advancing in the Donbass region, with Putin on September 5 announcing that capturing the eastern area was his “primary objective” in the conflict.

Earlier in August, Ukraine’s push into Russia’s Kursk region caught Russian forces off guard. However, Putin dismissed the offensive, stressing that the move did not slow Moscow’s advance.