Ukraine\u2019s Zelenskyy has urged allies to lift restrictions on Western-supplied arms to strike deep inside Russia
\n Moscow
\nPresident Vladimir Putin has warned that if Western nations allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike inside Russia then it will mean NATO would be \u201cat war\u201d with his country.
\n\u201cThis would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia,\u201d Putin told Russian state TV on Thursday.
\n\u201cAnd if this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us,\u201d he said.
\nHis comments come ahead of a meeting in Washington, DC, on Friday between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden, who are expected to discuss giving Ukraine the go-ahead to strike targets inside Russia amid mounting concerns over its losses on the battlefield.
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for restrictions on Western-supplied, long-range weapons to be lifted so his forces can target airfields, ammunition depots and command centres deep inside Russia, also increasing the costs of the invasion for Moscow.
\nSpeaking to reporters en route to the US, Starmer said, \u201cRussia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away. Ukraine has the right to self-defence\u201d, according to British media reports.
\nIt will likely be the last meeting between the US and British leaders before Biden leaves office and ahead of the US presidential election in November that will pit Democrat Kamala Harris against Republican Donald Trump.
\nTrump repeatedly refused to take sides on the war, which started with Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during a debate with Harris this week, saying only: \u201cI want the war to stop.\u201d
\nBiden said he was \u201cworking\u201d on Ukraine\u2019s request as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy made a rare joint visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where they announced $1.5bn in additional aid.
\nBlinken wrapped up a three-nation, Ukraine-focused European tour in Poland on Thursday after hearing repeated appeals from Ukrainian officials to use Western-supplied weaponry for long-range strikes inside Russia.
\n\u201cAs what Russia\u2019s doing has changed, as the battlefield has changed, we\u2019ve adapted,\u201d Blinken said at a news conference in Warsaw.
\nBiden has allowed Ukraine to fire US-provided missiles across the border into Russia in self-defence but has largely limited the distance they can be fired.
\nOne of the key requests from Ukraine is to strike with US-produced Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).
\nBut the Pentagon has said they wouldn\u2019t be the answer to the main threat Ukraine faces from long-range Russian glide bombs, which are being fired from more than 300km (186 miles) away, beyond the ATACMS reach.
\nOn Friday, Donald Tusk, the prime minister of NATO member Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, said he was not worried by Putin\u2019s comments.
\n\u201cIt is necessary to take all events in Ukraine and on the Ukrainian-Russian front very seriously, but I would not attach excessive importance to the latest statements from President Putin,\u201d Tusk told a news conference.
\n\u201cThey rather show the difficult situation the Russians have on the front.\u201d
\nPolish Foreign Minister Radowslaw Sikorski had previously said Kyiv should be allowed to use Western weapons in self-defence because \u201cRussia is committing war crimes by attacking civilian targets\u201d.
\n\u201cMissiles that hit these civilian targets are fired from bomber aircraft from over the territory of Russia. These bombers take off from airfields on Russia\u2019s territory,\u201d Sikorski said.
\nRussian forces have ramped up pressure on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine\u2019s Donetsk region and increased air attacks across the country.
\nUkraine was pressing on with attacks in western Russia\u2019s Kursk region following its surprise cross-border incursion on August 6, but Zelenskyy confirmed on Thursday that Moscow\u2019s troops were mounting a counteroffensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukraine\u2019s Zelenskyy has urged allies to lift restrictions on Western-supplied arms to strike deep inside Russia Moscow President Vladimir Putin has warned that if Western nations allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike inside Russia then it will mean NATO would be \u201cat war\u201d with his country. \u201cThis would in a significant way change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-431071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n