Putin's chilling warning to the West if Ukraine allowed to use long-range NATO missiles

Vladimir Putin has said he will "react accordingly" if the West gives to go-ahead for to strike using long-range missiles with military chiefs drawing up plans for a response.

The Kremlin dictator confirmed that he will regard such an attack as an act of war by. “Our military department is thinking about this and will offer various options,” said Putin, who said that Russia would “react accordingly” to the use of the long-range missiles.

Putin was asked by a journalist whether the West had taken on board his earlier warning that such use of British, French or American missiles would be seen as the West declaring war on . His favourite interviewer Pavel Zarubin posed the question: “In your opinion, did they hear your words, your signals?”

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And Putin responded: “They didn’t tell me anything about this, but I hope they heard, because, of course, we will have to make some decisions for ourselves too. The point is not whether someone will be allowed or not allowed to use this weapon against Russia….. Ukrainian troops cannot use these weapons on their own.”

He alleged any strikes at targets deep inside Russia by Ukraine could only be made with close Western involvement, notably the use of satellites which Kyiv does not possess. “Only NATO specialists can do this, because this requires space reconnaissance, which Ukraine naturally does not have,” he said.

“We understand this - specialists are needed who will enter flight missions based on this reconnaissance data and perform a whole series of other actions. The Ukrainian army cannot do this on its own. Therefore, what is happening now is all being done by NATO officers.

“The only question is whether they will allow themselves to strike deep into Russian territory or not. That is the question. And, naturally, we will have to react to this accordingly. How to react, when, where exactly, well, it is too early to talk about this. But, of course, our military department [the Russian defence ministry] is thinking about this and will offer various options for answers.”

Russia has been conducting a ferocious months-long campaign along the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually compelling Kyiv to surrender ground. But Russia has struggled to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk border region following an incursion almost three months ago.