Posted in: 06/06/2022 – 08:30
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States during an interview broadcast Sunday 05/06 that Russia would bomb new targets if the West provided Ukraine with longer-range missiles for use in high-precision mobile missile systems.
The United States has ruled out sending US or NATO forces to Ukraine, but Washington and its European allies have provided Kyiv with weapons such as drones, heavy howitzers, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles. US President Joe Biden said last week that Washington would provide Ukraine with the HIMARS missile systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that they would not be used to target Russia.
Putin said the arms shipments were “not new” and did not change anything, but warned that there would be a response if the United States provided long-range missiles to HIMARS systems, which have a maximum range of 300 km or more. In an interview with the state television station Rossiya-1, Putin said that in the event of the provision of such missiles, “we will bomb those targets that we have not yet begun to strike.”
Putin said the range of Lockheed Martin’s HIMARS systems depended on the missiles they were being supplied with and that the range the United States had announced was about the same as the Soviet-made missile systems Ukraine already had. “This is not new. It does not fundamentally change anything,” Putin said. He added that these weapons only replaced those destroyed by Russia. Putin did not specify what targets Russia intends to bomb but said the “fuss” over Ukraine’s supply of Western weapons was aimed at prolonging the conflict.
The US Department of Defense said it would provide Ukraine with four HIMARs systems in addition to the multiple launch system for guided missiles, which it said has a range of more than 64 km, twice the range of the howitzers it provided. Speaking of the drones delivered to Ukraine by Western countries, Putin said that Russian air defenses “break them like walnuts.” He said that dozens of rallies were destroyed.
Although Russian officials have warned that a US decision to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems would exacerbate the conflict, Putin said it would not bring about any fundamental changes on the battlefield. The interview, which the Kremlin said was recorded on June 3 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, showed Putin sitting in front of a giant map of Russia, Europe and Central Asia. In response to a question about Ukraine’s grain exports, Putin said the best solution would be to transport it through Belarus, but said sanctions should be lifted on this country.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, shipments of grain from its Black Sea ports have been halted and more than 20 million tonnes of grain remain in silos. Putin and Russian officials do not use the words war or invasion and say it is a “special military operation” aimed at stopping the persecution of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. Putin describes the operation as a turning point in Russian history and Moscow’s rebellion against the United States, which he says has humiliated Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine says it is fighting for its very survival against Russian aggression.