——— US missile use by Ukraine could lead to World War three, claims Russian lawmakers
DM Monitoring
MOSCOW: Senior Russian lawmakers said Sunday that any Ukrainian strike on Russia using US missiles could lead to World War Three, Reuters reported.
Washington’s decision to let Kyiv strike deep into Russia with long-range US missiles has escalated the conflict in Ukraine. Two US officials and a source familiar with the decision revealed the significant reversal of Washington’s policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict earlier on Sunday.
“The West has decided on such a level of escalation that it could end with the Ukrainian statehood in complete ruins by morning,” Andrei Klishas, a senior member of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app. Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, said that Moscow’s response will be immediate.
“This is a huge step towards the start of World War Three,” the TASS state news agency quoted Dzhabarov as saying.
President Vladimir Putin said in September that the West would be fighting Russia directly if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles, a move he said would alter the nature and scope of the conflict.
Russia would be forced to take what Putin called “appropriate decisions” based on the new threats.
Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma lower house’s foreign affairs committee, said that US authorisation of strikes by Kyiv on Russia with US ATACMS tactical missiles would lead to the toughest response, Russian news agencies reported.
“Strikes with US missiles deep into Russian regions will inevitably entail a serious escalation, which threatens to lead to much more serious consequences,” TASS news agency quoted Slutsky as saying.
Earlier, The Kremlin has accused United States President Joe Biden of escalating the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to strike targets inside Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said any US decision to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia would mean the US was directly involved in the conflict.
“If such a decision was indeed formulated and brought to the Kyiv regime, then this is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of US involvement in this conflict,” Peskov said, adding that President Vladimir Putin had made Russia’s position clear in September. Ukraine has long sought authorisation from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials as ATACMS, to hit military installations – and in particular airfields – inside Russia.
