Putin threatens to attack new targets if Ukraine receives long-range missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia's armed forces will attack new targets if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles. "If they are supplied, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons, which we have no shortage of, to attack those targets that we have not attacked so far," he said in an interview with Russian state television's Channel One.

Putin issued the warning after the White House officially announced a new $700 million military aid package to Ukraine, including multiple HIMARS missile launchers with a range of up to 70 kilometres. The US made this decision after Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky promised not to use them against Russian territory.

Putin said the US decision would not fundamentally change the balance of power on the ground, as Russia believes that arms supplies from the US and other countries to Ukraine serve to make up for arms losses suffered by Kiev during the hostilities.

"There is nothing new here. First of all, these multiple-launch rocket systems, after all, are in service with the Ukrainian army, (they are) Soviet, Russian-made Grad, Smerch, Uragan, similar Russian-made Grad systems," he noted. 

"What we see, hear, know has nothing to do with confidence in the Ukrainian regime or distrust (of a possible attack on Russian territory), it depends on what kind of missiles the Americans supply," he stressed. 

"But what we hear today and what we understand is that these are missiles that fly exactly 45 to 70 kilometres, depending on the type of missile," which is already the case with the weapons currently at Kiev's disposal, he said. 

Putin also said that Kiev has requested artillery supplies. "Well, it's more or less the same thing. Apparently, we are also talking about replacing what was lost, what was destroyed during the hostilities," he said. 

The Kremlin chief assured that, at the time of the start of the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine, approximately 515 such systems were already part of the Ukrainian army's war materiel and 380 of them were destroyed. "Some of them have been restored (...) and we understand that they have about 360 in stock," Putin added.

He further assured that Russian air defences "break" foreign attack drones supplied to Ukraine as "nuts". "It is known that there are several types of them. First of all, these are attack drones. They have been used from the very beginning. However, they are only used effectively where there are no air defences on the battlefield," he stressed.

He said Russian air defence systems "are very effective". "We hope no one takes offence, but they (drones) are cracking them (drones) like nuts. Dozens and dozens of such drones have been taken out," he said.

The Russian president considered that, in general, "all this hustle and bustle about the supply of additional weapons is, in my view, pursuing a single goal - to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible" in Ukraine.