LONDON (CU)_The United Kingdom recently endorsed strikes that may be carried out by Ukrainian troops in Russian territory, as Moscow continues to intensify its aggression against its neighbour. In an interview with Times Radio on Tuesday (26 April), United Kingdom’s Minister for Armed Forces, James Heappey, said it is “not necessarily a problem” if Kyiv uses weapons donated by Britain to hit sites on Russian soil, adding that such a move would be “completely legitimate”. His comments prompted a harsh response from the Kremlin which issued a grave warning to member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the United Kingdom in particular.
“Ukraine was a sovereign country that was living peacefully within its owner borders and then another country decided to violate those borders and bring 130,000 troops across into their country,” Minister Heappey said during his interview. “That started a war between Ukraine and Russia, and in war Ukraine needs to strike into its opponent’s depth to attack its logistics lines, its fuel supplies, its ammunition depots, and that’s part of it.”
He went on to say that it was “completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russia’s depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren’t disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil”, adding that it was “not necessarily a problem” if British-donated weapons were used for this purpose.
Responding to these remarks, Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, warned that strikes could be authorised by Moscow against NATO countries which provide arms to Ukraine. “Do we understand correctly that for the sake of disrupting the logistics of military supplies, Russia can strike military targets on the territory of those NATO countries that supply arms to the Kyiv regime?” she inquired. “After all, this directly leads to deaths and bloodshed on Ukrainian territory. As far as I understand, Britain is one of those countries.”
