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Nato countries will be at war with Russia if the United States allows Ukraine to use long-range missiles deep inside Russian territory, Vladimir Putin has warned.
The Russian president claimed the programming of Western missiles would have to be done by Nato military personnel - bringing the organisation into direct confrontation with the Kremlin.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with allies for months to allow his military to fire long-range US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territory.
On Thursday, it was reported US president Joe Biden was considering lifting restrictions on Kyiv using British missiles inside Russia.
When asked about the possibility of long-range missiles being used inside Russia, Mr Biden said his administration was “working that out now”.
Mr Putin told Russian state media on Thursday: “It would mean that Nato countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.
“If that’s the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face.”
Britain has supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 155 miles, three times the range of the missiles Ukraine has used up to now, but it cannot use them to fire at key targets inside Russia.
Meanwhile, the US has provided Ukraine with the longest-range version of ATACMS, a ballistic missile that can travel 190 miles.
But it has remained hesitant over allowing the firing of long-range missiles into Russia over fears Moscow could respond by deploying hypersonic nuclear weapons.
However, ahead of a joint UK-US press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the US had “from day one” been willing to adapt its policy as the situation on the battlefield changed.
Mr Blinken said he and UK foreign secretary David Lammy would report back to their “bosses” – Joe Biden and Keir Starmer – after their visit to Ukraine.
Mr Biden is likely to discuss Ukraine’s use of missiles with Mr Starmer when they meet in Washington on Friday.
This week, Russian forces started a counteroffensive along Kurk’s western edge just over a month after Ukraine launched an audacious cross-border incursion into the region.
The Institute for the Study of War (IsW), a US-based think tank, said Mr Putin’s troops had taken back several settlements over the past 48 hours.
“The size, scale, and potential prospects of the 11 September Russian counterattacks in Kursk Oblast are unclear and the situation remains fluid as of this report,” the IsW said.
Several Russian military bloggers claimed that Russian forces launched the mechanised counterattack from the north near Korenevo and that Russian forces quickly advanced into Snagost.
It cited available visuals and said Russian forces were “operating in company-sized units and may be using elements of more combat-experienced units to conduct counterattacks”.
Kyiv’s forces, in response, are fighting back and have initiated new attacks in the west of Snagost, the Washington-based think-tank added.
