Russia Warns Ukraine and West of ‘Harsh’ Retaliation Amid Looming Long-Range Missile Deal

September 14, 2024 TruthUSA

The White House official stated, “There is no change to our view on the provision of long range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside of Russia.”

Russian officials have issued threats to the West regarding Kyiv firing Western-supplied long-range missiles into Russian territory.

“The decision is there, all the carte blanche, indulgences have been issued [to Kyiv]. Therefore, we will respond in a brutal way,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Sept. 14, according to Russian state-owned TASS news agency.

“There is an element of serious risk here, because the opponents in Washington, London, and other places clearly underestimate the degree of danger of the game they continue to play,” Ryabkov mentioned.

These threats were made during discussions between President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about granting Kyiv permission to strike targets inside Russia with donated long-range missiles. Prior to the talks at the White House, Putin cautioned Western nations that such a move would be seen as NATO’s “direct participation” in the war.

“This would significantly change the nature of the conflict,” Putin stated, according to the Kremlin’s official Telegram channel. “It would imply that NATO countries, the United States, European countries, are at war with Russia.”

Washington has clarified that, at least for now, there are no plans to relax restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weaponry.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Sept. 13 before the Biden–Starmer meeting, “There is no change to our view on the provision of long range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside of Russia. There’s just no change to our policy right now with respect to that capability, for all the reasons that we said we weren’t in support of it before.”

Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, cautioned that although Russia will currently refrain from responding to Ukrainian long-range missile strikes with nuclear force, this patience may not last indefinitely.

“The Russians talk a lot about responding with weapons of mass destruction, but they do nothing,” Medvedev wrote on Sept. 14 on messaging platform Telegram. “The Russians will not cross the border. They just threaten. A nuclear conflict is useless for them, they have a lot to lose, including the support of the Global South.”

According to Medvedev, Ukraine’s recent attack on Russia’s Kursk region could have justified the Kremlin’s use of nuclear weapons, but they opted for patience, recognizing the gravity and irreversibility of such a response.

“Who needs an apocalypse?” asked Medvedev, a longtime associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This is a very bad story with a very difficult outcome.”

Medvedev mentioned that Russia could devastate Kyiv without utilizing its nuclear arsenal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to Western allies to authorize missile use into Russia as a means to defend Ukraine’s cities, protect key infrastructures from continuous bombardment, and bring an end to the conflict.

Following Starmer’s visit, no new commitments regarding Ukraine were made. The White House highlighted that the two leaders expressed “deep concern” about Iran and North Korea supplying weapons to Russia, as well as China’s backing for Russia’s defense industrial base.

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