Putin warns West risks 'war' if it backs Ukraine long-range strikes
MOSCOW
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Thursday that allowing Ukraine to use longer-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia would effectively put NATO "at war" with Russia.
The stark warning came as U.S. and U.K. officials discussed Kiev's request to ease restrictions on firing Western weapons into Russia, more than two and a half years after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Moscow claimed to have recaptured territory in its western Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces had recently made advances.
Putin made his remarks after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged that Washington would swiftly review Kiev's long-standing request for more flexibility to use Western-supplied weapons to strike Russian targets.
"This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict," Putin told a state television reporter. "It would mean that NATO countries, the U.S., and 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," he added.
Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw on Thursday, Blinken stated that the United States would "adjust, we'll adapt as necessary, including with regard to the means that are at Ukraine's disposal to effectively defend against the Russian aggression."
Kursk Counteroffensive
Kiev launched a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk border region on August 6, advancing kilometers into Russian territory and seizing dozens of settlements.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that Moscow's troops were striking back.
Ukraine's attack—the largest by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II—caught Moscow off guard as its invasion stretches into its third year.
Russia has insisted from the start that it would expel Ukrainian troops from the region. However, it had appeared on the back foot, focusing on a humanitarian response and evacuating around 150,000 people.
"Units of the 'North' group of troops liberated 10 settlements within two days," Russia's defense ministry stated on Telegram.
Speaking in Kiev, Zelensky said, "Russians have launched counteroffensive actions." He did not provide details on the extent of Russian operations, but said the incursion was still "going in line with our Ukrainian plan."
Ukraine's commander-in-chief of armed forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said in late August that Kiev had seized 100 settlements and almost 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory.
Kiev maintains it does not wish to annex parts of Russia—as Moscow has done in eastern Ukraine—but hopes to use its territorial gains as leverage in negotiations.
Longer-range Strikes
Kiev seeks more flexibility to hit Russian airfields and other military targets further from the front lines that it says are crucial to Moscow's invasion.
Washington currently permits Ukraine to target Russian positions in occupied parts of Ukraine and some in Russian border regions directly related to Moscow's combat operations. "The delay in this process leads to Russia moving these military targets deeper into Russia," Zelensky said.
The Kremlin stated Wednesday that it would respond "appropriately" if the restrictions were lifted.
President Joe Biden is expected to review the Ukrainian requests Friday in a White House meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Biden has been cautious about actions that might provoke direct conflict between nuclear-armed Russia and the United States.
Speaking in Poland after his visit to Kiev, Blinken was also set to discuss a request by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga for neighboring countries to help intercept missiles over Ukraine's western region.
Russia has increased its air attacks on Ukraine amid the Kursk offensive, including targeting the country's energy infrastructure as winter approaches.
'Another War Crime'
Moscow's forces are also intensifying pressure on the battlefield in the eastern Donetsk region, where the heaviest fighting is taking place.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and Ukrainian officials reported Thursday that three Ukrainian aid workers were killed by shelling in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said ICRC vehicles were hit in the Donetsk region, calling it "another Russian war crime."
The city administration in the key eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk reported that Russia had cut off the water supply to the city, around 10 kilometers (six miles) from the front line.
Zelensky also mentioned that a cargo ship bound for Egypt and carrying wheat was hit by a Russian missile in the Black Sea, shortly after leaving Ukrainian waters.