MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday there would be “serious consequences” if Western countries allowed Ukraine to use its weapons to strike targets in Russia, as Kiev is seeking.
The warning came as French President Emmanuel Macron said Kiev should be allowed to “neutralize” Russian military bases from where Kremlin troops fire missiles into Ukraine, and as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world not to be war-weary.
Putin’s comments came after some NATO members as well as alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg called on Ukraine to use its weapons to step up attacks on Russian territory after more than two years of war.
“This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences,” Putin said during Uzbekistan visit.
“In Europe, especially small countries, they should be aware of what they are playing with,” he said, adding that many European countries have “small territories” and “dense populations”.
“And this factor that they should keep in mind before they talk about striking deep into Russian territory is a serious matter,” he said.
He added that even if Ukrainian forces carried out strikes, Western arms suppliers would be held responsible.
Putin also said that while he believed Western military instructors were already working undercover as mercenaries in Ukraine, any move by the countries to officially send them would be another “escalation” and “another step to a serious conflict in Europe, to a global conflict.”
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief announced on Monday that negotiations are underway with France to send military instructors to the country.
Putin warned that “we will do what we consider necessary, regardless of who is on the territory of Ukraine.”
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels that European countries remain divided over sending military instructors to Ukraine.
Countries including Germany oppose the move, which they fear could bring them closer to direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
EU countries have trained 50,000 Ukrainian troops outside the war-torn country as part of a bloc-wide mission set up in 2022.
Zelenskyy is urging Western allies to provide longer-range missiles and other materiel to strike deeper into Russia in an effort to cripple its military and industrial capacity.
With the Russian offensive now in its third year, Ukraine is also asking for more weapons for its outmatched and outnumbered troops, particularly seeking help to address its lack of air defence systems.
So far, Kyiv’s partners have demanded that their weapons not be used to attack Russian soil, which Kyiv’s forces have instead carried out using locally-made explosive drones.
But France’s Macron said that “We think we should allow them to neutralize the military sites where the missiles are launched, from where … Ukraine is attacked,” but that “we should not allow them to touch other targets in Russia, and of course civilian capacities”.
However, the White House ruled out such a possibility for US-supplied weapons.
Zelenskyy, on a European tour to pump arms and support into his embattled country, urged the world not to be war-weary, saying it would play into Russia’s hands.
Zelenskyi is also trying to drum up support for a peace conference to be held in Switzerland next month without Russia, and on Tuesday called on US President Joe Biden to attend.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any such conference was “hopeless” without Russian participation.
