Vladimir Putin warns that if the West starts supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles, Russia will have to attack new targets hitherto left out of what he calls a “Special Military Operation.”
If these missiles are supplied, “we will hit targets that we have not yet hit,” Putin said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya-1 television channel. The Russian president’s words are a clear warning on an issue that worries Moscow, although Putin did not specify which targets Russia plans to destroy if Western countries start supplying Ukraine with these missiles.
This type of weaponry poses a threat to Russian cities near the border such as Belgorod, Voronez or Rostov. Some of these cities have already received attacks from Ukraine.
Russia is also hitting the Ukrainian rear. New Russian attacks destroyed tanks and other armored vehicles on the outskirts of kyiv that had been provided to Ukraine by European countries, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. The Ukrainian air force and the mayor of kyiv reported that Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers launched missiles at the capital from the Caspian Sea. The attack targeted the railway infrastructure in kyiv, said Serhiy Leshchenko, assistant to President Volodomir Zelensky’s chief of staff. These missiles are the first to hit the capital since the end of April.
“The Kremlin resorts to new evil attacks. Today’s missile attacks on kyiv have only one goal: to kill as many as possible,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak. The mayor of the city of Brovary, about 20 kilometers from the center of kyiv, urged people to stay indoors as there were reports of a sooty smell coming from the smoke, Reuters reports.
The new attacks are not limited to the capital. The representative of the Russian Defense Ministry added that anti-aircraft defenses shot down an Antonov An-26 transport plane carrying weapons and war material, as well as a MiG-29 fighter plane near Slaviansk, in the Donetsk People’s Republic, near Odessa. , a city in Russian hands that has received Ukrainian attacks in recent hours, according to images broadcast on social networks.
Ukraine has been calling for multiple launch rocket systems like the M270 and M142 HIMARS for weeks to target troops and weapons stockpiles in the Russian rear. They are highly mobile rocket systems that can hit targets 80 kilometers away with great precision. US President Joe Biden has announced that he will provide Ukraine with HIMARS rocket systems after receiving assurances from kyiv that he will not use them to attack targets inside Russia.
The Russian president has downplayed what Ukraine has received so far. “We understand that this supply [of advanced rocket systems] from the United States and some other countries is intended to compensate for the losses of this type of military material,” Putin said. “This is nothing new. It doesn’t change anything in essence.” In the same interview, Putin boasted that Russian anti-aircraft forces have shot down dozens of Ukrainian weapons and are “cracking them like nuts.”
Ukraine has been receiving weapons from thirty countries even before the start of the conflict. Javelin anti-tank missiles have been key in thwarting the Russian advance in the early stages of the attack. Also the drones, which have caused great problems for the Russians, especially with the effective Bayraktar TB2, which Turkey has supplied to Ukraine since 2019. Less famous – although more abundant – are the American ‘kamikaze’ drones that fly to their target and collide against him exploding at the same time. Reuters reports that the Biden Administration plans to sell Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones, which can be equipped with Hellfire missiles, with a range of 8,000 meters.
The Gepard, anti-aircraft tanks that are key to keeping Russian aviation away, also play an important role. In addition, in early May, anti-ship missiles began to arrive in Ukraine. It is the West’s response to the Russian blockade in the Black Sea.
Putin denounces that the West seeks to prolong the armed conflict in Ukraine to the maximum. “The supply of additional weapons pursues in my view a single goal, to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible,” Putin said in his television interview.
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