New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday warned that Moscow could reciprocate against Western targets, after nations like the US, Germany and the UK have allowed Ukraine to use their long-range weaponry to attack inside Russian territory.
“If someone thinks it possible to send such weapons to a war zone to strike our territory and create problems for us, then why do we not have the right to send our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where strikes can be made on sensitive facilities of the countries that do this against Russia?” said Putin at a news conference with international media, as reported by The New York Times.
His comments came after Kyiv has used American long-range weaponry to strike inside Russian territories in recent days. In the last weeks of May, US president Joe Biden finally gave Ukraine the green light to use US weapons to strike targets inside Russia, in the defence of the city of Kharkiv.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Wednesday refused to confirm whether Kyiv used American-supplied weapons to strike targets located in Russia.
“Russian forces are firing at Ukraine from just across the border — north of Kharkiv. And the President thought it was right that if Russian forces are hitting Ukraine from Russia into Ukraine that Ukraine should have the right to hit back, including with American-made weapons,” said Sullivan during a press gaggle en route to France.
Over the weekend social media was awash with videos of burning military wreckage in the Belgorod region of Russia. Belgorod, a city in Russia is less than 100 km away from Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine.
Yehor Chernev, a deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s committee on national security, told The New York Times via text messages that Kyiv’s armed forces used a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to target S-300 and S-400 missile launchers about 30 km inside of Russia.
The Biden administration for months refused to accede to Kyiv’s request to launch US-made missiles into Russian territory, to prevent further escalation with the nuclear-armed country, which has in the past threatened to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield if it is required.
The US, however, has granted Kyiv permission to use its weapons only in the defence of Kharkiv and on Russian territory near the city. Missiles such as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and other US-made long range missiles still cannot be used offensively across the border by Ukraine.
Sabrina Singh, the deputy press secretary for the US department of defence, Wednesday reiterated the American position on the use of its weapons systems by Ukraine – stating that long-range weapons cannot be used to strike deep inside Russian territory.
Kyiv has been lobbying hard for permission to launch more powerful missiles such as the ATACMS into Russian territory, according to media reports.
In recent weeks, Russia has intensified its operations in the Kharkiv region, opening a new front in the war after the Ukrainian armed forces faced a shortage in arms and munitions due to delays by the US Congress to pass the required legislation.
While Russian efforts in North Ukraine have intensified, it has been capturing multiple villages in the Donbass – the region in Eastern Ukraine, which has been contested since 2014. The beleaguered Ukrainian armed forces have been on the retreat from the Donbass, with thousands of Russian troops massing around the strategic town of Chasiv Yar.
In recent months Moscow has captured other strategic towns including Bakhmut and Avdiivka. One of the major reasons for Ukraine’s retreat across the East has been the shortage of both arms and manpower, according to local media reports.
Russia’s asymmetric response?
Putin Wednesday suggested that Moscow could take “asymmetrical” steps around the world to respond to Western countries allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike inside Russia.
Russian ships and aircrafts are en route to the Caribbean for military exercises, as a show of response in response to the situation in Ukraine. The Russian ships are expected to make port calls in Venezuela and Cuba, as Putin looks to project Russia’s naval power, after facing multiple setbacks to its Black Sea Fleet, according to the Associated Press.
Kyiv has claimed to have destroyed nearly a third of the Black Sea Fleet, including its flagship carrier Moskva in April 2022.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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The peace conference being organised by Switzerland is an exercise in futility. Instead, better for relevant parties ( a phrase much used by the Chinese ) to sit together in a much smaller room and hasten towards a ceasefire. Status quo ante will never be restored, unfortunately. Better to avoid an almost inevitably direct conflict between NATO and Russia.