Downing Street today responded to threats of nuclear retaliation from “depraved” Vladimir Putin after Ukraine attacked Russian territory with a US-supplied missile.
A spokeswoman for the prime minister said the hard line coming out of Moscow was “the latest example of irresponsibility.”
After the threshold for triggering a nuclear response was lowered, he insisted that Putin was the one driving the escalation of the situation, not the West.
At the G20 summit, Sir Keir dodged questions about whether he thought the Kremlin’s threats were real. ‘It is very important that we are firm in our support for Ukraine. “Russia is the aggressor,” he said.
The comments came after a dramatic increase in rhetoric as Ukraine began deploying long-range US missiles.
The Biden administration gave kyiv the green light over the weekend despite fears that the conflict could escalate beyond control.
A loud explosion at an ammunition depot in Karachev, about 75 miles from the Ukrainian border in Russia’s Bryansk region, lit up the night sky early this morning on what is the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine.
The attack was first reported by Russian eyewitnesses and military bloggers, and later confirmed by Ukrainian military officials. RBC Ukraine In fact, the attack was carried out with the American-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System).
Reports of the attack emerged minutes after the Kremlin threatened a “nuclear response” if Ukraine attacked targets on Russian soil with long-range munitions supplied by the West.
ATACMS – Army Tactical Missile – fired from an M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System
A spokeswoman for the prime minister (pictured last night at the G20) said the hard line coming out of Moscow was “the latest example of irresponsibility”.
“The Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it with the use of conventional weapons,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Russia this morning.
His statement followed Putin’s approval of an updated nuclear doctrine that allows his strategic forces to deploy nuclear weapons if Russian or Belarusian territory is threatened by a non-nuclear nation supported by a nuclear power.
Threats that could cause Russian leaders to consider a nuclear strike include an attack with conventional missiles, drones or other aircraft, according to the updated document.
A Ukrainian attack on Russian territory with US-supplied missiles meets these criteria, raising fears that Moscow may now consider a dramatic escalation of the conflict.
Asked if the Russian leader was behaving irresponsibly, the No 10 spokeswoman said: “It would be fair to say it is the latest example of irresponsibility we have seen from the depraved Russian government.”
“We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine and defense of an illegal invasion, and we have always said that the defense of the United Kingdom begins in Ukraine.”
The spokeswoman said: ‘Our goal remains to support Ukraine… we are very clear that Vladimir Putin could end this war tomorrow.
“He could withdraw his troops, turn back his tanks and put an end to the attack and unnecessary bloodshed in both Ukraine and Russia. That is entirely within his gift.
“We urge you to do so.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued a defiant statement despite the Kremlin’s nuclear saber-rattling, declaring that “Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law.”
“We need peace through force, not appeasement,” the ministry added, as Volodymyr Zelensky called on kyiv’s allies to “force” Moscow into a “just peace” and promised that his troops would “never surrender.” .
Zelensky has long pressed his Western allies to allow his country to strike military targets deeper inside Russia, saying the restriction had made it impossible for kyiv to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and power grids.
But kyiv’s Western supporters had resisted his pleas, fearing that doing so would cross a “red line” set by Putin, until last weekend, when the Biden administration sensationally lifted the blanket ban.
Putin, who today signed the decree formalizing Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine, first announced changes to the document in September.
At the time, the Russian president said he would consider Western nations “direct participants” in the war in Ukraine if they provided kyiv with the ability to strike targets inside Russia.
He also suggested he could provide Russian missiles to Western adversaries to attack Western targets abroad as a retaliatory measure.
A loud explosion lit up the night sky about 125 kilometers from the nearest Ukrainian border at an ammunition depot in Karachev, Russia’s Bryansk region.
Zelensky called on kyiv’s allies to “force” the Kremlin to achieve a “just peace” and vowed that his forces “will never surrender” to Russia.