By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Tuesday that NATO members in Europe were playing with fire by proposing that Ukraine use Western weapons to strike inside Russia , which he believes could spark global conflict.
More than two years after the start of Europe’s deadliest land war since World War II, as the West considers what to do about Russian military advances, Putin increasingly speaks of the risk of a world war, while Western leaders downplay it.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told The Economist that alliance members should let Ukraine strike deep into Russia with Western weapons, a view supported by some European members of the alliance transatlantic, but not by the United States.
Russian forces have advanced into Ukraine’s Kharkiv province safely, knowing that Ukraine cannot attack missile launchers fired deep inside Russia because it cannot use Western missiles that have the required scope.
Meanwhile, Western air defenses cannot attempt to shoot down the Russian rockets until they have crossed the Ukrainian border, just 25 km from Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv.
“Constant escalation can lead to serious consequences,” Mr. Putin told reporters in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
“If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, given our parity in the field of strategic weapons?”
“It’s hard to say: do they want global conflict?”
Putin said Ukrainian strikes with long-range weapons would require help from Western satellites, intelligence services and the military – and therefore the West should be directly involved in such attacks.
He said sending French troops to Ukraine would also be a step towards global conflict and that smaller countries considering deeper involvement “should be aware of what they are playing with”, as they have small areas and a dense population.
“This is a factor that they should keep in mind before talking about attacks deep into Russian territory. This is a serious thing, and we are of course monitoring it very closely,” Putin said.
Russia advances debate in the west
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered the worst breakdown in relations with the West in 60 years.
The invasion left tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians dead, drove millions to flee abroad and reduced neighborhoods and entire cities to rubble.
Putin presents the war as part of a struggle with the West, which he says is exploiting Ukraine as part of a broader plan to encroach on what he sees as Russia’s sphere of influence. Moscow.
The West and Ukraine present this attack as a simple land grab: Russia controls 18% of Ukraine, and the crisis is now escalating into what diplomats consider its most dangerous phase.
Russian officials say Moscow’s patience is running out after Ukrainian attacks on Russian cities, oil refineries and parts of its nuclear warning system.
Putin said kyiv and its Western backers provoked the Russian offensive on the Kharkiv region by ignoring repeated warnings not to let Ukraine attack the adjacent Russian region of Belgorod.
(Written by Guy Faulconbridge)
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