Russia says response won’t ‘be pretty’ if Ukraine starts long-range strikes

Some of Russia’s top officials issued threats to the West and said the response to Kyiv won’t “be pretty” if Ukraine gets permission to begin long-range strikes with Western-supplied weapons.

“The decision has been made, the carte blanche and all indulgences have been given [to Kyiv], so we are ready for everything,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to Russian state-owned news agency, RIA news.

“And we will react in a way that will not be pretty,” he added.

Deputy Chair of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, which Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said slowed Moscow’s military advance on a different front, already justified the use of either nuclear or deadly non-nuclear weapons.

“And that would be it. A giant, grey, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities,'” he wrote on Telegram, the messaging service.

The threats come as Western leaders discussed this week if they would allow Kyiv to use Western-supplied weaponry to strike targets deep inside Russia. Some of Ukraine’s allies have been weary about authoring the permission, fearing the development would be seen as added escalation against Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin touched on the topic, saying on Thursday that the West is advancing a direct war with Moscow as talks continued about the potential use of NATO-provided weapons by Ukraine to hit deep inside Russian territory.

“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict,” Putin said . “It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.”

Kyiv, who has sought permission for some time, reiterated those desires on Saturday.

“Strong decisions are needed. Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities where it originates,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky’s office, said on social media .

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