Talk of Ukraine’s missile deal riles Russia; Kyiv vows to make more weapons
Al Jazeera
Ukraine’s officials lay out plans for domestic defence industry as they await word from Western powers about long-range strikes.
Russian officials delivered dissonant statements in the past week about how Moscow would respond to Western weapons striking deep inside its territory, and whether such attacks will happen at all.
Russian diplomats played on the now-familiar threat of a nuclear response.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency TASS on Saturday that Ukraine’s Western allies had already approved deep strikes inside Russia.
“The decision [to allow Kyiv to strike] is there; all the carte blanche indulgences have been issued to Kyiv’s clients,” TASS quoted him as saying. “Therefore, we will respond in a brutal way.”
US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had met the previous day, but issued no statement on whether they were giving authority to Kyiv to use US-made Army Tactical Missiles (ATACMs) or British-made Storm Shadow missiles to hit air bases and logistics 300km (185 miles) inside Russia.
