Putin warns West it risks “fighting Russia” if it lets Ukraine use long-range missiles | BBC News

President Putin has said tonight that the US and European countries will be directly participating in moscow's conflict with Ukraine if they lift restrictions on Kev using longrange missiles to strike Russian territory he said this would change the nature of the conflict and mean the Us and other NATO countries were fighting with Russia sakir stama who's currently heading to Washington is expected to discuss the use of such missiles tomorrow with President Biden the Prime Minister responded to President Putin by saying it was Russia who started the conflict with its illegal Invasion and that it could end it straight away in a moment we'll speak to our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg but first his Damian grammaticus two and a half years after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine and almost nightly Russian bombs and missiles continue to batter the country strikes launched from Deep pinside Russia to counter these Ukraine has for months been urging the West to allow it to use the longrange weapons they already Supply to hit back against airfields Logistics and Military targets that sustain these assaults and to blunt the advances Russia is making on the ground for Ukraine the timing with winter coming is critical so on the agenda for S stama heading to Washington with the foreign secretary whether to Green Light attacks on Russian territory the Russian president warned against that yes if this decision is made it will mean nothing other than direct participation of NATO countries the United States European countries in the war in Ukraine it is their direct participation and this of course significantly changes the very essence of the conflict this will mean that NATO countries the United States European countries are fighting with Russia but momentum is building for Western Nations to agree to Ukraine's request earlier this week David Lamy and the US Secretary of State traveled to Kev Russia has already been using missiles supplied by North Korea now it's believed to be receiving them from Iran too this week we have REM been reminded of how other authoritarian regimes are aiding Putin with Iran going even further in support for Moscow by providing ballistic missiles a significant and dangerous escalation these are the Storm Shadow missiles the UK already supplies Ukraine Russia warned against doing that and Ukraine has crossed other Russian red lines too drone strikes of its own deep inside Russian territory and it's recent attack across the border into the kers region on his flight sakir stama said it was Russia that started this conflict and Ukraine had the right to self-defense but he wants discussions with a key Ally when decisions of such import made Damen grammaticus BBC News Westminster well we'll speak to Damen in Westminster in just a moment but first to our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg and Steve these sound like President Putin's most hawkish comments to date I think so yes and what we heard from Vladimir Putin today was a clear warning to the West do not do this do not allow Ukraine to use your missiles to strike Russian territory what we didn't hear from Vladimir Putin was what Russia's going to do if this actually happens he talked about taking appropriate decisions but without any detail now what might those decisions be well in the past President Putin has proposed uh providing Advanced longrange weapons to Western adversaries to strike Western targets abroad he's also suggested in the past deploying conventional missiles within Striking Distance of America and its European allies now Russian officials many times have accused the west of fighting Russia of Waging War against Russia on the territory of Ukraine Putin made it clear today that if this goes ahead if Western missiles are used to Target Russian territory this will take things to a whole new level so in a sense Western leaders will have to decide which is greater the risk of escalation or the need to help Ukraine and allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory with these missiles and Damian the Prime Minister on his way to Washington right now appears to be striking a defiant tone yes uh I mean he was very clear in the comments he made on that flight uh on the way there H when he said Ukraine has the right to defend itself it was Russia that launched uh this war this invasion was launched by president Putin the point Ukraine makes is that it's fighting at the minute with a hand tied behind its back because Russia is able to strike from deep inside its own territory those missile attacks into Ukraine uh and Ukraine says it cannot respond and so it wants to now what saki starma said on that plane too was he said we do not seek any conflict with Russia that is not our intention in the slightest but he did also say that there are important decisions coming up important moments for Ukraine coming up and it was he thought it significant that he should spend time sitting down with key allies in Washington because he said you don't get that time at a normal Summit he wants to have that face-to-face time he said to take the Strategic and tactical decisions and make sure everyone is on the same page