With Western missile attacks on Russia, the conflict in Ukraine has taken on a "global character": Vladimir Putin said this in a dramatic evening televised speech on the situation in Ukraine, an immediate reaction to the permission given by the US and Great Britain to Kiev to attack deep into Russian territory with missiles supplied by them. Moscow, he added, "has the right" to strike the countries whose weapons are used by Ukraine in Russia. And in the event of an escalation, the Kremlin will respond "decisively and symmetrically", he stressed. Moscow, he added, is ready to resolve all problems peacefully, but also to "any development of events".
Putin's speech thus closes one of the most dramatic days of the conflict in Ukraine , as the arrival at the White House of Donald Trump approaches, who has promised to bring peace between Moscow and Kiev.
Putin also confirmed that Russia had launched a hypersonic ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead at a Ukrainian aerospace factory, tearing away the veil of mystery that had surrounded the launch since the morning, when the Kiev government had denounced the use by the Russians of an intercontinental ballistic missile, one of those capable of striking as far as the United States with nuclear warheads.
Putin confirmed the news, specifying that there are no effective air defenses against the new missile, capable of traveling at 2-3 kilometers per second. Moscow will continue to test it in this conflict, he added, choosing targets "on the basis of threats to the security of the Russian Federation," but warning civilians in advance to leave areas that could be attacked.
The most ominous warning, however, was issued by Putin to the United States and Great Britain, confirming that six American Atacms missiles and an unspecified number of British Storm Shadows were launched between Tuesday and Wednesday on the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk. In the attack on the latter region, conducted with Storm Shadows, a command post was targeted, where there were deaths and injuries among the security personnel outside. "We consider ourselves authorized to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities," Putin warned.
"They are the ones who provoked an escalation in Ukraine," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre retorted , reiterating however that for the moment the United States "has no reason" to change its nuclear doctrine, as Moscow has done.
(Online Union)