Putin: Ukraine War Turning Global

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday that the Ukraine conflict is escalating into a global confrontation, accusing the United States and Britain of enabling Ukraine to attack Russian territory with their weapons. He warned that Moscow could retaliate against those who supply arms used against Russia. In response to these developments, Russia has deployed a new type of hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile, striking a Ukrainian military facility, and hinted at potential future strikes, with civilians to be warned in advance.

Putin emphasized that Ukraine's use of U.S.-made ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles, along with U.S.-provided HIMARS, marked a turning point in the conflict. According to him, Ukraine launched these attacks on Nov. 19 and Nov. 21, following approval from the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. The strike with ATACMS, he claimed, caused no significant damage, but a Storm Shadow missile attack on Russia’s Kursk region reportedly targeted a command center, resulting in casualties.

Speaking in a televised address to the nation, Putin stated that the conflict had evolved from a regional crisis to a global one, provoked by the West. He accused the United States of pushing the world toward broader conflict and vowed that Russia would respond decisively if further aggressive actions were taken. "We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities in countries enabling attacks on our own facilities," Putin said, adding that any doubts about Russia’s willingness to retaliate were misplaced.

The Russian leader revealed that Moscow had tested a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile, dubbed "Oreshnik" (Hazel), by targeting a defense facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The site, home to the Pivdenmash missile and space rocket enterprise, known as Yuzhmash in Russia, was successfully struck, according to Putin. He noted that the missile is part of Russia’s efforts to counter U.S. plans to produce and deploy similar weapons in Europe and the Far East, an issue stemming from the collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Putin criticized the United States for its withdrawal from the INF Treaty in 2019, a move justified by Washington with accusations of Russian violations, which Moscow denies. He highlighted that Russia had imposed a unilateral moratorium on deploying intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles but warned that future actions would depend on Western moves. "Russia voluntarily refrained from deploying such weapons until the U.S. introduced them elsewhere," he said.

Russia currently controls 18% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, annexed in 2014, and significant portions of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Ukraine and its Western allies view Russia’s actions as an imperialist attempt to seize sovereign territory and have voiced concerns about potential future aggression against NATO members if Russia emerges victorious in Ukraine. However, Putin dismissed suggestions that the Ukrainian attacks using Western-supplied weapons could alter the course of the ongoing military operations, reiterating Moscow’s commitment to its objectives.