Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would “draw conclusions” if the U.S. supplies long-range missiles to Ukraine, adding that he would set his eyes on new targets that have not been attacked.
“If it now comes to rockets and they are supplied, we will draw conclusions from that and employ our weapons that we have in sufficient quantities to strike those facilities that we are not attacking so far,” Putin stated on the Rossiya-1 TV channel, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
“In my view, all this fuss over additional deliveries of armaments generally pursues the sole objective of stretching out the armed conflict as long as possible,” Putin added.
His warning comes in response to the Biden administration’s decision to send advanced rocket systems as part of a $700 million weapons package to Ukraine.
The High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) can fire many of the same types of rockets as the Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), which can hit targets 300 kilometers away. The HIMARS allows Ukrainians to more precisely strike targets from a greater distance inside Ukraine.
When asked about U.S. assurances that the systems would not be used inside Russian territory, Putin said it “depends on the types of rockets that the Americans will supply.”
“Now a part of them has been restored and some have been taken from inventories and, as we understand, they currently have about 360 such systems,” the Russian president said.
“We believe that the delivery of rocket systems by the United States and some other countries is related to making up for the losses of this combat hardware,” he added. “There is nothing new about that and this actually changes nothing.”