Western long-range weapons used against Russia – Putin

Kiev has launched a long-range missile strike against military facilities located within internationally-recognized Russian territory, President Vladimir Putin said in a public address on Thursday.

The Ukrainian military fired British-made Storm Shadows and US-made HIMARS missiles at targets located in Russia's Bryansk and Kursk Regions, he said.

The use of such Western-made systems in the Ukraine conflict has drastically changed its nature, he warned. “A regional Ukraine conflict instigated by the West has acquired elements of a global one,” Putin stated.

These long-range high-precision missile systems cannot be used without the direct involvement of Western military specialists, the president explained.

Russia’s air defense systems have successfully repelled all the attacks made with the Western long-range missile systems, according to Putin. “The goals that have apparently been set by the enemy have not been achieved,” he said.

The attacks on one of the command centers in Kursk Region resulted in some casualties among the military guarding the facility, Putin said. The command personnel were not affected by the attack and the center continues to coordinate the operations of the Russian forces in the Russian border region, repelling a Ukrainian incursion, he added.

“The use of such weapons by the enemy cannot affect the course of the situation in the Special Military Operation zone,” the Russian president said, referring to the situation on the front lines, where, according to Putin, Moscow’s forces are continuing their successful offensive operations everywhere along the contact line. “All the goals we set are to be achieved,” he added.

Moscow also responded to the use of the British- and American-made long-range weapons with a combined missile strike of its own, the Russian president said. According to Putin, the attack involved some of the most advanced Russian weapons, including a new ballistic missile. The strike targeted a military industrial facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk (also known as Dnipro in Ukraine).

On Tuesday, the British state broadcaster the BBC reported, citing defense sources, that Ukraine has fired Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia’s Kursk Region.

The claim followed outgoing US President Joe Biden reportedly permitting Kiev to use American ATACMS missiles to strike territory which is internationally recognized as part of Russia. Neither Washington nor London have officially confirmed allowing Ukraine to deploy their long-range weaponry for such purposes.

The updated Russian nuclear doctrine, which was approved earlier this week, states that an attack on the country by a foreign nation that does not have weapons of mass destruction, but is backed by a nuclear power, should be considered a joint attack by both.