Putin hints at strikes on West in ‘global’ war after test-firing new missile at Ukraine
Nato and Ukraine are to hold emergency talks after Russia used an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the conflict
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries.
The Kremlin strongman spoke out after a day of frayed nerves, with Russia test-firing a new generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine – which Putin hinted was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky branded Thursday’s strike a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war by a “crazy neighbour”, while Kyiv’s main backer the United States said that Russia was to blame for escalating the conflict “at every turn”.
Intermediate-range missiles typically have a reach of up to 5,500km (3,400 miles) – enough to make good on Putin’s threat of striking the West.
In a defiant address to the nation on Thursday, Russia’s president railed at Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation.
“From that moment, a regional conflict in Ukraine previously provoked by the West has acquired elements of a global character,” Putin said.
