It feels as though we are inching ever closer to a potential third world war, with tensions high between the West and Russia.
As Western leaders decide whether Kyiv can use long-range weapons, Vladimir Putin said if this happens, Russia will ‘make appropriate decisions’.
Ukraine has long been asking for permission to use Western drones to help in its fight against Russia, but the US and UK have held back for fear of escalation.
That soon may change though, after David Lammy and Antony Blinken visited Ukraine this week where they were urged again to lift restrictions on the use of weapons against Russia.
But Putin issued an extremely dire warning to the West, saying this would ‘change the very nature of the conflict’.
He told a state TV reporter yesterday: ‘It would mean that Nato countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.
‘If that’s the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face.’
Why has Putin threatened war?
President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to fire US-provided missiles across the border into Russia in self-defence but largely limited the distance over concerns about further escalating the conflict.
But it’s now believed that the US and Uk are considering letting Ukraine use western made missiles to strike Russia.
Foreign secretaries David Lammy and Antony Blinken both cited the potential approval as a repercussion for Russia getting Iranian missiles.
CIA director William Burns, who was in London on Saturday for a joint appearance with his British intelligence counterpart, warned of the growing and ‘troubling’ defence relationship involving Russia, China, Iran and North Korea that he said threatens both Ukraine and Western allies in the Middle East.
All in all, these events have frustrated Putin, who is now issuing direct threats of war with the west.
Would the UK and US go to war with Russia?
Putin has claimed if the UK/US allow the use of western-made long range missiles in the war with Ukraine, war would involve ‘Nato countries, the US, European countries’.
It is possible, if there is a direct provocation, that Russia could retaliate. But as Russian expert Keir Giles told Metro earlier this week: ‘There’s no reason to think that after so many demonstrations of empty Russian threats, an extension of the use of missiles already in service would be the final straw that would trigger a suicidal response from the Kremlin.’
Giles explained if Russia retaliates in larger attacks if Ukraine is given the go-ahead to use Western missiles, it would be another consequence of Ukraine defending its sovereignty against Russia.
He said: ‘It’s an unavoidable consequence of being a neighbour of Russia – the only nuance is whether the cost is incurred through resisting Russian colonisation or giving in to it.
‘The standard Russian reaction to anything that upsets the Kremlin or surprises them is an intensification of campaigns to target the most vulnerable in Ukrainian society.
‘This means attacks against hospitals, schools, shopping centres and critical national infrastructure.’
Threats of a ‘response’ have been ‘highly effective in constraining’ what the United States has done in terms of weapons supplies to date, Giles said.
What world leaders have said
Prime Minister Keir Starmer struck a more impatient tone yesterday evening when asked to respond to Putin’s latest threats.
‘Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away,’ he told reporters.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told the BBC’s Today programme this morning was on his way to Kyiv from Lviv when a Russian long-range missile struck a residential area.
‘I visited a place where the father of the family saw the bodies of his wife and three daughters being carried out,’ he said.
Ukraine should be able to ‘use all force necessary’, but added that it’s difficult to know when to take Putin’s threats seriously when it comes to his ‘red lines’ as he’s such a ‘liar’.
‘He’s lost credibility and therefore we don’t know whether he means it,’ Sikorski said.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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