Russia’s defence ministry has warned of an immediate “proportional response” if Britain continues its “direct provocation” of Ukraine to strike targets in Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has accused London of a “direct provocation” after British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey encouraged Ukrainian forces to use UK-supplied weapons to attack targets inside Russia.
The Russian ministry cited statements from the UK’s armed forces minister, James Heappey, that said Britain backs Ukrainian troops carrying out strikes in Russian territory. Speaking earlier today, Defence Minister James Heappey had said ‘of course’ Ukraine had the right to attack Russian military installations even if they were over the border. adding it was “not necessarily a problem” if Ukraine uses weapons donated by Britain.
It comes after a large fire erupted in the early hours yesterday at an oil storage facility in the city of Bryansk, 100 miles into Russia over the Ukrainian border.
The UK has been among the top arms suppliers of Kiev, pouring thousands of anti-tank missiles into the country ahead of the large-scale Russian military operation that kicked off in late February.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed the risk of a third world war was “considerable”, saying according to his ministry: “I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.
“NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.”
Mr Heappey told the BBC that claim was “nonsense and Lavrov knows it”, as weapons have been donated directly by western countries and not by NATO itself.
Now Russia’s defence ministry has said:
“We would like to underline that London’s direct provocation of the Kyiv regime into such actions, if such actions are carried out, will immediately lead to our proportional response.
As we have warned, the Russian Armed Forces are in round-the-clock readiness to launch retaliatory strikes with high-precision long-range weapons at decision-making centers in Kyiv.”
The ministry added that if such Russian strikes were made, it would not necessarily be a problem if representatives of a certain Western country were located at those “decision-making centres” in Kyiv.
It sometimes seems surreal watching politicians sabre rattling miles away from the conflict, a conflict where Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, who in reality must be praying they have enough strength to continue until at least one person advocates de-escalation, diplomacy and détente, to bring about a ceasefire a, an offer of hope a step towards peace and not escalation.
