Putin Puts West On Notice: Long-Range Arms For Ukraine Will Mean ‘NATO At War With Russia’

Update(1230ET): Putin says not so fast… First, here’s a UK Times report within the last hour:

Britain and the United States are on the verge of allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia after accusing President Putin of “escalating” the conflict by accepting ballistic missiles from Iran.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, and Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said they would return to their respective countries to inform their leaders of the “operational details” surrounding Ukraine’s use of weapons such as Storm Shadow missiles after meeting President Zelensky in Kyiv.

Blinken promised to work quickly on Ukraine’s requests to ease the restrictions, saying he would take what he had learnt “back to President Biden.” —Putin escalating conflict, say western allies as missile approval moves closer

President Putin is currently speaking at the St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum, which addresses current events related to Russia. He issued the following red line while speaking to a reporter on the sidelines of the conference Thursday:

Putin says long-range arms for Kyiv would mean 'NATO countries at war with Russia'

Below is the breaking AFP note:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the West giving Kyiv a green-light to use longer-range weapons to strike Russian targets would mean NATO will be "at war" with Russia.

"This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict... It would mean that NATO countries are at war with Russia," Putin told a state television reporter.

Just prior to this warning, Russian Senator Aleksey Pushkov wrote on Telegram in response to the UK prepping more, longer-range Storm Shadow missiles for Ukraine, “The decision to strike Russian territory is clearly being prepared.”

The White House is ready to green-light use of American missiles to strike targets deep inside of Russia. The Russians have many ways to retaliate. Why are we taking this risk? Ukraine is neither a treaty ally nor a vital interest. Biden himself once warned this could cause WW3. pic.twitter.com/osae4nPhu5
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) September 11, 2024

The Russian lawmaker continued, “There are too many conversations and hints about it for it to be reversed. Even if it has not been made yet, it looks like it will be a matter of days. The leak via The Guardian is not accidental. Public opinion is being prepared.”

Below are the full Thursday Putin comments, translated and issued by Russian state media:

"I have already mentioned this, and any experts will confirm, both in our country and in the West, that the Ukrainian army is not capable of [independently] carrying out strikes using Western modern, long-range precision systems. It cannot do this. This is possible only with the use of intelligence from satellites which Ukraine does not have. This data is only available from satellites of the European Union or the United States, in other words, from NATO satellites. That's the first point," Putin said.

"The second and very important, perhaps key point is that only NATO servicemen can make flight assignments to these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this," Putin said.

"So this is not about whether or not to allow the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia using these weapons, but of deciding whether or not NATO countries are directly involved in the military conflict or not. If such a decision is taken, it will mean nothing short of direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, European countries, in the war in Ukraine. This would constitute their direct participation, and this, of course, changes the very essence, the very nature of the conflict. It will mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia. And if this is so, bearing in mind the change in the very nature of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be posed to us," Putin said.

Putin said that the permission for long-range strikes against Russia "will mean that NATO countries are directly at war with Russia."

And he called it "war." pic.twitter.com/0BZ6JOZ9QP
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 12, 2024

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There are many indicators showing that Russia is now belatedly pushing back Ukraine forces in Kursk at full force. Ukraine’s President Zelensky acknowledged this reality in Thursday comments, saying at a briefing that the Russian “counteroffensive actions were according to our Ukrainian plan.”

And Russia’s Defense Ministry (MoD) said the same day that its offensive to regain sovereign Russian territory is in full swing, having already captured almost a dozen towns in the southern border region.

“Units of the ‘North’ grouping of forces liberated 10 settlements within two days,” the statement indicated. “Likewise, over the past day, units of the group repelled two enemy counterattacks near the towns of Fanaseyevka and Snagost, as well as thwarted an attempted attack near the town of Olgovka,” the MoD added.

Pro-Russian war bloggers have also described that Russian forces are engaged in a “local counteroffensive” in the Korenevsky district, near Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Since the Aug.6 cross-border incursion, Kiev leadership has boasted of capturing some 500 square miles of Russian territory, encompassing some 100 towns and villages – but this significant extent has never been confirmed. But what became clear was the huge size of Russian evacuation efforts. Within a couple weeks after the invasion, there were reports that 100,000 Russians fled border regions, and now that figure is estimated at 150,000 who were evacuated.

The MoD described that in the last couple days of the counteroffensive, “The AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] losses amounted to more than 300 troops and 24 units of hardware, including five tanks, six armored personnel carriers, 13 armored fighting vehicles, as well as two artillery guns, nine motor vehicles, two counter-obstacle vehicles, and two electronic warfare stations.”

In total, Moscow claims that Kiev forces have lost over 12,500 in the Kursk operation. Along with this, it lost “101 tanks, 42 infantry fighting vehicles, 83 armored personnel carriers, 669 armored fighting vehicles, 401 motor vehicles, 92 artillery guns, 26 launchers, including seven American-made HIMARS and five MLRS systems, eight air defense systems, two transport-loading vehicles, 22 electronic warfare stations, seven counter-battery radars, two aerial radars, ten engineering vehicles, including four counter obstacle vehicles and one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle”—according to recently published figures in state sources.

Recent ISW war map:

NEW: Russian forces began counterattacks along the western edge of the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast and reportedly seized several settlements northeast and south of Korenevo on September 10 and 11. 🧵(1/7)

1/ The size, scale, and potential prospects of the September 11… pic.twitter.com/5UsFSM3tag
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) September 12, 2024

Russian sources have claimed that Ukrainian troops are currently surrendering in droves. For example, RT says of one video showing a large group of men walking down a street with their hands up, “Another one [unverified clip] purports to show a group of Ukrainian POWs walking down a road. Some of them are holding their hands behind their heads while others prop up an injured comrade.” The conflict continues to be a horrific war of attrition.

But Western officials have continued cheering on the Ukraine operation, with British Defense Secretary John Healey saying in fresh remarks before the House of Commons that “the longer they hold Kursk, the weaker Putin becomes. The longer they hold Kursk, the better defended Ukraine will be.” But the tide of battle in Ukraine’s east tells a different story.