Moscow will target new targets if it supplies long-range missiles to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned that Moscow would crack new targets if Western countries supply long-range missiles to Ukraine, ruling that current arms deliveries are aimed at “prolonging the conflict.”

If long-range missiles are delivered to Ukraine, “then we will take appropriate decisions and use our weapons (…) to strike sites that we have not yet targeted”, Mr. Excerpts from an interview with Putin will be published Sunday evening on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

He did not define the scope of Moscow’s response or specify what targets it could target.

The announcement comes just days after the United States announced its decision to deliver multiple rocket launchers with a range of about 80 km to Ukraine’s Himars (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System).

Military experts point out that this range is slightly larger than similar Russian systems, which allows Kyiv forces to attack enemy artillery.

However, US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he had refused to supply Ukraine with long-range rocket launcher systems that could reach Russia, despite repeated requests for such weapons.

Putin said there was “nothing new” in US weapons supplied to Kyiv so far, adding that Ukrainian forces already had “Soviet or Russian-made systems, such as grads, smerches or auragans.”

Putin went on to say that the range of projectiles “does not depend on the system, but on the missiles used.” “What we are hearing and understanding today is that these (for American Himalayas) are missiles with a range of 45 to 70 km,” he added.

“The only goal is to distribute Western weapons to Ukraine: to extend the armed struggle as long as possible,” he said. Putin thought.