photo = AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the West will respond strongly if the West provides long-range missiles to Ukraine.
“If Ukraine receives long-range missiles[from the West]we will draw appropriate conclusions,” Putin said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel on the 5th (local time), according to TASS/AFP news agency.
“We will use our weapons to hit targets that have not been attacked before,” he said. “The delivery of new weapons to Ukraine is to prolong the conflict.”
President Putin’s remarks came as the West, including the United States and Britain, announced that they would support Ukraine’s advanced multiple rocket launcher (MLRS), which can strike with precision and have a longer range than existing weapons.
Recently, the US has decided to send a variant of the MLRS, the High-speed Mobile Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), to Ukraine.
HIMARS is a system capable of launching a medium-range guided multiple rocket system (GMLRS) with a range of up to 80 km.
The UK also announced on the 1st that it would provide Ukraine with the M270 launcher, a multiple rocket launcher.
Multiple rocket systems such as the MLRS are also weapons that Ukraine has been requesting support from the West, emphasizing that it is necessary for a counterattack.
But Putin downplayed the West’s support for long-range multiple rocket systems, saying it was “nothing new.”
On the same day, after 38 days, Russian troops attacked Kiiu, the capital of Ukraine. Considering Putin’s remarks, it is interpreted that today’s airstrikes are intended to show that they can strike an opponent from a distance that is incomparable with Ukraine’s.
By Park Joo-yeon, staff reporter grumpy_cat@hankyung.com
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