Russia has threatened the West with consequences if their long-range missiles touch down on its territory, especially Crimea, which it has occupied.
Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister for the Kremlin, has today warned the US and the UK that if they use their weapons beyond international borders, they would be viewed as full-fledged combatants.
Using such missiles “outside the zone of the special military operation would signify their full-fledged involvement in the conflict and will lead to immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine,” he emphasised.
Shoigu said: ‘According to our information, the leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is planning to launch strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles.
’The use of these missiles outside the area of the special military operation would mean a full-fledged involvement of the US and UK in the conflict entailing immediate strikes on the decision-making centres in Ukraine.’
His comments come as Russian regions bordering Ukraine and Crimea have been hit by drones.
Though Kyiv has not commented on its involvement, these attacks include one on Putin’s residency in Moscow.
Shoigu’s claim that Crimea is part of Russia is disputed by the West – and international law – which regards it as Ukrainian.
Putin invaded and forcibly annexed the Black Sea peninsula in 2014 – the biggest land-grab in Europe since World War II.
The minister appears clearly rattled at the power of the British-supplied Storm Shadow with a range of 155 miles, which has been fired from Ukrainian Su-24 war planes.
So far Ukraine has used the Storm Shadow and US-provided HIMARS to hit targets in Russian-occupied areas of mainland Ukraine, not including Crimea.
Russia admitted today that it had lost another colonel in an earlier Storm Shadow strike close to Crimea, on the Arabat Spit.
Col Sergei Postovalov, 53, is due to be buried tomorrow after he was fatally wounded in June 10 strike which hit a Russian command post close to Henichesk minutes after Putin’s deputy premier Denis Manturov had visited.