Russia will hit targets it has so far not struck if long-range missiles are delivered to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned.
“If they are supplied, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons, which we have enough of, in order to strike at those objects that we have not yet struck,” Putin told Russia 1 in an interview broadcasted on Sunday.
The Russian president noted that the shipment of US-made multiple-launch rocket systems confirmed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday is unlikely to bring anything new to Kiev’s forces. The Ukrainian military already has Soviet- and Russian-designed Grad, Smerch, and Uragan systems of the same kind, he explained.
According to the Russian president, the whole “fuss around” the additional arms deliveries to Kiev “serves only one purpose – to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible.”
For months, Kiev has been urging the US and other Western allies to ship US-designed MLRS and HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems, which, depending on the type of rocket, can hit targets up to 500km away.