Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Sunday, warned that Russia will strike new targets if the West supplied new long-range missiles to Ukraine.
If Kyiv is supplied with long-range missiles, "we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms.... to strike targets we haven't hit before," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying, an AFP report reads. Putin also said that providing Ukraine with more long-range missiles was aimed at prolonging the conflict.
Putin also said that the West supplying more arms wouldn't bring much of a difference to the battlefield. “We understand that this supply (of advance rocket systems) from the United States and some other countries is meant to make up for the losses of this military equipment,” Putin told the TASS news agency.
Russia's defence ministry said a barrage of airstrikes on Ukraine's capital destroyed tanks donated by the West and other armour in an attack on Sunday that shattered five weeks of eerie calm in Kyiv. Russian forces pounded railway facilities and other infrastructure early Sunday in the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine's nuclear plant operator, Energoatom, said one cruise missile buzzed the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) to the south, on its way to the capital citing the dangers of such a near miss.
-- With PTI inputs
