Russia warns of more strikes in Kyiv; Putin ally says Ukraine heading for collapse into several states

Russia on Tuesday accused the UK of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory.

Moscow: The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian ‘decision-making centres’ in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldn't be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the UK of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at UK Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was “not necessarily a problem” if Ukraine's British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision-guided weapons on Kyiv centres that would make such decisions.

It noted that “the presence of citizens of one of the Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centres won't necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.”