Putin: West goes to war with Russia if it allows Kiev to use long-range weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West would enter into direct war with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to launch attacks on Russian soil with Western-made long-range missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long called on Western countries to lift restrictions on his country's use of long-range weapons for attacks deep inside Russia.

Putin said such a move would directly plunge the countries that supply Kiev with long-range missiles into war with Moscow, because satellite targeting data and missile flight path programs would have to be carried out. by NATO military personnel, since Kiev cannot do this on its own.

"So it's not just a matter of whether or not the Ukrainian regime will be allowed to hit Russia with these weapons. The issue is whether or not to make a decision to allow NATO countries to be directly involved in a military conflict," Putin said on Russian state television.

"If the decision is taken, it means that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are directly involved in the war in Ukraine. This, of course, will significantly change the essence, the nature of the conflict," he said.

Russia will be forced to take "correct decisions" based on the new threats, Putin added.

He did not explain what those measures would be, but in the past he has talked about the possibility of arming the West's enemies with Russian weapons, for attacks on Western targets abroad.

Russia, the world's largest nuclear power, is also revising its nuclear doctrine - which implies Moscow would use nuclear weapons - and Putin has been under pressure to change it to emphasize Russia's readiness for the use of nuclear weapons against countries that "support NATO's aggression in Ukraine".

Russia is currently conducting major naval exercises with China.

The West is debating whether or not to allow Kiev to use long-range weapons to attack Russia, which it accuses of accepting ballistic missiles from Iran.

Tehran has denied this and called it "ugly propaganda".

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 with tens of thousands of troops, sparking the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Putin calls the war a "special military operation".

The West and Ukraine describe the invasion as an attempted land grab and have vowed to defeat Russia on the battlefield./REL