Russia’s Putin warns of strikes if US supplies long-range missiles to Ukraine

MOSCOW, (ANI): Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the United States that Moscow would strike new targets if Washington started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, according to media reports. In a TV interview, Putin said that delivering new arms to Ukraine only aims to “drag out the armed conflict for as long as possible,” CNN reported citing TASS news agency.

In the case of deliveries of long-range missiles to Kyiv, Russia will draw “appropriate conclusions” and strike those “facilities” that it has not yet targeted, he said. “If they are supplied, we will draw appropriate conclusions from this and use our own weapons, of which we have enough, in order to strike at those facilities we are not targeting yet,” Putin said, commenting on the situation regarding the supply of American multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Ukraine.

Earlier in June, US President Joe Biden announced that the US is providing Ukraine “more advanced rocket systems and munitions” as its war with Russia grinds on. Biden, writing in a New York Times op-ed said that Washington’s goal is “to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression,” CNN reported.

He said the new shipment of arms would “enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.” According to the official, the US does not want to see a war between NATO and Russia and wants the ongoing conflict in Ukraine to end as soon as possible.

“The second objective the President (Joe Biden) outlined in the op-ed is that we do not seek a war between NATO and Russia, the President has been clear that we will not be directly engaged in this conflict either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces,” the official said Tuesday, according to Sputnik. “We want to see Russia end its war on Ukraine as quickly as possible,” the official added.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. (ANI)