Russian President Vladimir Putin accused NATO of escalating the war in Europe as the U.S. and Britain discussed allowing NATO-provided weapons to be used by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia.
Putin said if the West allowed Ukraine to strike inside the invaders’ territory with Western-made long-range missiles, a move he said would alter the nature and scope of the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading with Kyiv’s allies for months to let Ukraine fire Western missiles including long-range U.S. ATACMS and British Storm Shadows deep into Russian territory to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks.
“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict,” Putin said on Thursday. “It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.”
Putin’s warning comes amid multiple recent reports that the U.S. is close to clearing the way for Western weapons to be utilized to hit deep inside Russia.
The New York Times reported that President Joe Biden is close to allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is willing to give Ukraine permission to use “Storm Shadow” long-range missiles, but he wants U.S. approval.
“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,” said Putin, whose expression was widely considered to be a threat of nuclear war.
In July, Putin said that he reserves the right to supply long-range weapons to Russian allies for possible use against Western strategic interests in response to Ukraine getting the green light to use NATO-supplied weapons for limited attacks inside Russia.
But military experts said Putin’s latest threat might be limited on the ground.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the U.S. “will do exactly what we have already done, which is we will 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.”
Blinken on Wednesday announced $717 million in new economic and humanitarian assistance for the war-torn Ukraine, including $325 million in energy support to help repair and restore power facilities hit by Russian strikes.
The package also includes $290 million in humanitarian help and $102 million for demining work.
On Wednesday, Blinken also met with both Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy.
The heads of the CIA and Britain’s spy service said that “staying the course” in backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia was more important than ever as they warned that the world order was “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War”.
The debate comes after Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia in early August, capturing miles of territory and grabbing some settlements.
The attack caught Russia unprepared. Zelensky later said that the Russian army was hitting back and Moscow had vowed to clear Ukraine from the area.
Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance said a potential Trump administration’s approach to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, could include establishing a “demilitarized zone” in Ukrainian territory now occupied by Russia.
That Republican retreat would mark a dramatic change from Biden’s policy, which is focused on providing military and other assistance, along with Europe and other allies to help Ukraine repel and reverse Russian aggression.
“I think what this looks like is Trump sits down, he says to the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Europeans: You guys need to figure out. What does a peaceful settlement look like? And what it probably looks like is the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine, that becomes like a demilitarized zone,” said Vance, who noted that Ukraine would be prevented from joining NATO or other “allied institutions” if the GOP were to pull off this capitulation.
Vance’s comments are the most explicit and recent plan for the war proposed to date by the Republican ticket.
Trump has claimed that if elected, he would end the war. This week, during the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, he said that if elected in November, he would “get it done before even becoming president.”
However, he’s stopped short of explicitly laying out his plan, suggesting that publicizing his strategy would weaken his hand in negotiations.
During an interview with Lex Fridman, Trump said of his scheme, “Part of it’s surprise,” a line that was reminiscent of President Richard Nixon’s ‘secret plan’ to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In the Fall of 1968, Nixon was elected with the pledge to end the controversial war based on a plan that he refused to divulge, but he promised “peace with honor.”
Archives recently made public revealed, Nixon’s actual “peace plan” was to escalate the war, including the use of nuclear weapons.
Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of using strategic bombers to strike a civilian grain vessel in a missile attack in Black Sea waters near NATO member Romania, escalating tensions between Moscow and the military alliance.
Zelenskiy said the vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to Egypt had been hit overnight by a Russian missile just after it left Ukrainian territorial waters. There were no casualties, he said.