Russia said on Tuesday that its forces were ready to carry out retaliatory strikes if the Russians were hit with weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western nations.
“The army is ready to retaliate if Russia is attacked with Western weapons,” Moscow’s Defense Ministry said, as quoted by the Tass news agency.
According to the note, “attacks against decisionmaking centers in Kyiv, where Western advisers are located, would be proportionate,” mainly due to “attempts by London to pressure Ukrainian authorities” to attack Russia.
The statement comes as Britain encouraged Ukraine to attack targets on Russian territory and as 40 NATO and allied countries gathered at the largest American base in Europe, Ramstein, where arms shipments are being debated.
Picture: UOL Art.No
Earlier, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, an ally of Vladimir Putin, said that the actions of the West and Kiev “could lead to the breakup of Ukraine into several states”.
“Today, as in recent years, the tragic scenarios of global crises are being imposed by Washington,” Patrushev told the government newspaper Rossiskaia Gazeta, quoted by Interfax.
On February 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine, sparking a war that claimed many lives, including many civilians.
Yesterday (25) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov caused tension by saying he saw a “real risk” of a third world war. “The danger [de uma Terceira Guerra] it’s serious, it’s real and we shouldn’t underestimate it,” he said in an interview with state television.
The Chancellor justified this by saying that there was a risk of a new war due to the unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western countries on Moscow and the growing military support of Western countries for Ukraine.