Volodymyr Zelensky spoke briefly this Sunday about the permission that Washington granted him to use long-range US missiles against Russiaafter a massive Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure that left at least 11 dead. The president of Ukraine said that “things like that are not announced” and that these weapons “will speak for themselves”.
According to US media, Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use this type of weaponry, after a massive Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which left at least 11 dead.
Ukraine, facing the Russian invasion since February 2022, had been demanding this change in strategy for some time. The president Zelensky mentioned it in his daily speech on Sunday nightwithout confirming it directly.
Recalling the importance of his army’s “long-range capability,” Zelensky noted that “today, numerous media outlets report that we have received authorization to take appropriate measures.”
“But bombings are not carried out with the help of words. Things like this are not advertised“he added. “The missiles will speak for themselves,” he stressed.
This announcement came shortly before the departure of Joe Biden from the White House and the return of Republican Donald Trump, very critical of US aid to Ukraine. kyiv fears that the president-elect will cut off financial aid or try to force Ukraine to conclude an agreement with Russia.
For months, Zelensky has been demanding authorization to use British Storm Shadow missiles and American ATACMS missiles to attack targets further inside Russian territory.
These weapons with a maximum range of several hundred kilometers would allow Ukraine to reach Russian army logistics centers and the airfields from where its bombers take off.
But several countries, including the United States, have until now refused to give the green light, fearing an escalation with Moscow.
In Russia they remembered that Putin already warned of consequences for attacks with long-range weapons
The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, already warned the West of the consequences of allowing kyiv for the use of long-range weapons for attacks on Russian territory, the Foreign Affairs of this country said tonight.
“The president has already spoken about it“, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, told the RBC portal, in an apparent reference to statements by the head of the Kremlin from last September that several Russian media have reproduced in recent hours.
The Russian leader then said that If the West agrees to authorize attacks inside Russia with its long-range missiles, that would change the “essence” and “nature” of the conflict in Ukraine.
“This will mean that NATO countries, the US and European states, are fighting with Russia,” Putin said on September 13.
Days later, the Russian president proposed changes to his country’s nuclear doctrine, which would allow it to use those weapons in response to a “massive” air attackonce again stirring up a recurring threat since the beginning of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine.
“We consider this possibility if we receive reliable information about a massive launch of aerospace attack means,” Putin said in a televised meeting with his advisers.
He specifically referred to “strategic or tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons drones and other aircraft.”
Russia, Putin said, always treated the issue of nuclear weapons “with the highest degree of responsibility,” considering it “an extreme measure to protect the country’s sovereignty.” So, even proposals to update doctrine are calculated and proportional to the threats.
Putin appeared to refer to such an eventuality by stating that his proposal provides for “considering an aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear country, but with the participation or support of a nuclear country, as a joint attack against the Russian Federation.”