Putin threatens to strike Ukraine allies

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to attack Ukraine’s long-range missile suppliers through other countries in response to Kyiv’s use of Western missiles to strike his country.

“If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a warzone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those (Western) countries,” Putin said Wednesday at a rare press conference with foreign news outlets.

The warning came after several Western countries including the United States gave Ukraine the green light to use their long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia, a move Moscow has called a grave miscalculation.

Putin also said the Western arms donors were “controlling” the weapons.

The Russian leader singled out Germany for particular criticism, saying that when the first German-supplied tanks “appeared on Ukrainian soil, it provoked a moral and ethical shock in Russia” because of the legacy of World War II.

Nazi Germany invaded Russia during the war.

Referring to German authorities, he said: “When they say that there will be more missiles which will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations.”

Putin, however, said Russia is not planning to attack North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, some of which have supplied Ukraine with weapons to fight off Russian invaders.