The Russian President has issued another stark warning to Ukraine, promising that if President Zelensky sanctions the use of more US and UK-built long-range missiles, the Kremlin will retaliate.
Vladimir Putin has threatened Kyiv with Oreshnik missile strikes if Ukraine uses its new rockets on Russian targets again.
This comes after Ukraine fired a burst of US-made ATACMS missiles and UK-made Storm Shadow missiles at Russia last week.
Putin told a press conference in the Kazakh capital of Astana that Russia was reacting to “ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range Western-made missiles”.
Chillingly, he threatened: “The Defence Ministry and General Staff are selecting targets. These may include decision-making centres in Kyiv, military facilities and defence industry enterprises.
“It will be up to us to choose the means of destruction, including possible continuation of Oreshnik tests in combat conditions.
“The temperature of the striking elements reaches 4,000 degrees. Everything at the epicentre of the [Oreshnik] blasts disintegrates into fractions and elementary particles. Essentially, it turns to dust.”
In the last two days, Moscow has launched 100 missiles and 466 drones at Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Russia has confirmed the figures.
Sir Keir Starmer branded the strikes and threats “depraved”.
The PM spoke to President Zelensky on November 29 and pledged to put the country “in the best possible position ahead of another challenging winter of conflict”.
