Putin threatens to attack other targets if US sends long-range missiles to Ukraine

More than 100 days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has issued another warning to the Western powers and NATO over the supply of longer-range missiles to the Ukrainian military. “If [these weapons] are supplied, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our own arms, which we do not lack. We will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting,” Putin told Russian broadcaster Rossiya-1.

Washington has been mulling sending longer-range systems to Ukraine to allow the defenders to strike troops and weapons stockpiles at the Russian forces’ rear. Ukraine has been seeking access to Multiple Rocket Launch Systems (MLRS) such as the M270 and M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System).

US President Joe Biden announced plans this week to give Ukraine precision HIMARS rocket systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets inside Russia. Britain has also said it would supply Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems that can strike targets up to 80 km (50 miles) away. HIMARS systems have a maximum range of 300 km (185 miles) or more but the missiles supplied by the United States to date have a range of just over 40 miles (64 km).

Although Russian officials have warned that the US decision to supply Ukraine with advanced rocket systems could exacerbate the conflict, Putin said it would not bring on any fundamental changes on the battlefield.

Putin: “It doesn’t change anything in essence”

“We understand that this supply [of advance rocket systems] from the United States and some other countries is meant to make up for the losses of this military equipment,” Putin said. “This is nothing new. It doesn’t change anything in essence.” Putin also suggested that the West had only one goal in supplying further military aid to Ukraine, and that is to prolong the war for as long as possible. The Russian leader added that the rockets Washington had promised so far were comparable to Soviet-era weapons Ukraine already had.

Russia cracking western drones “like nuts”

Earlier in the same interview, Putin claimed that Russian defences were shooting down drones and other weapons supplied to Ukraine to date with ease, stating they were being “cracked like nuts.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference that “the longer the range of the systems that will be delivered, the further we will move back the Nazis from that line from which threats to Russian-speakers and the Russian Federation may come.”

Since the start of its invasion, which it calls a “special military operation”, Russia has repeatedly said it aims to clear Ukraine of “Nazis”. Kyiv and its Western backers say such claims are fiction and that Ukraine is fighting for its survival against an imperial-style land grab.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Putin has removed the commander-in-chief of Russian forces involved in the invasion of Ukraine, General Alexandr Dvornivok, from his post. He is expected to be replaced by the current vice-minister of defence, Gennady Zhidko, according to reports in various Russian news media.

Dvornikov was previously the highest-ranking officer on the ground in Syria, where he directed Russian forces during their intervention in the civil war between September 2015 and June 2016. His ruthless tactics there, included scorched earth policy and the destruction of towns and villages, earned him the nickname the “Butcher of Syria.” For his role in the Syria conflict, he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation. Dvornikov was handed overall command of the Ukraine invasion by Putin shortly after the initial invasion was launched in February.