Putin threatens to supply weapons to attack the West following Ukrainian strikes in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a series of new threats, suggesting he could arm countries to strike Western targets and once again brandishing his nuclear saber.

Putin's warning – a response to the decision by the United States and its European allies to allow Ukraine to attack some Russian territories using their weapons – was the latest threat from the Kremlin against greater support for kyiv. But the Russian leader also insisted that Washington and its partners were wrong to assume it would never use nuclear weapons.

At a press briefing with the heads of international news agencies at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Putin was asked about last week's decision to ease restrictions on kyiv following the new attack of Moscow against the border region of Kharkiv.

“If someone considers it possible to supply such weapons to a combat zone to strike our territory and create problems for us, then why do we not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to the regions of the world from which the strikes occur will be carried out on sensitive objects of the countries that do it in relation to Russia,” Putin said. “In other words, the response could be symmetrical.”

“Ultimately, if we find that these countries are being drawn into a war against us, and this is their direct participation in the war against the Russian Federation, then we reserve the right to act the same way,” Putin said. “But, in general, this is the path that leads to very serious problems.”

It was not immediately clear to which “regions of the world” it would deliver such missiles.

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to name the regions Putin is considering. The Russian president said what he wanted to say and delivered a clear message that the supply of weapons to strike inside Russia “cannot remain without consequences”, Peskov told reporters during a daily press briefing.

Putin warned European NATO states last week that the decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russia's interior with its weapons was playing with fire and could precipitate global conflict.

Until now, Ukraine's allies have been reluctant to allow their weapons to be used in Russia, for fear of reprisals from Moscow. But the Kremlin's new cross-border offensive has increased pressure for change, with kyiv feeling handicapped and increasingly frustrated.

Ukraine reported earlier this week that it had carried out the first strike in Russia using Western weapons, apparently targeting an air defense system in the Belgorod border region.

Asked what could trigger a nuclear war and how close the world was to that risk, Putin replied that Russia is often accused of waving a “nuclear baton,” but that it was not he who raised the question.

But he added that Russia can use “all means at its disposal” in the event of a threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity, in accordance with the country's nuclear doctrine, a framework setting the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons.

“For some reason the West believes that Russia will never use it,” he said.

“You can’t take this lightly, superficially,” he added.

Putin has been threatening to deploy Russia's powerful nuclear arsenal since it became clear that kyiv's Western allies would not abandon the war-ravaged nation and provide it with weapons for the battlefield, ultimately extending what Putin thought would be a quick operation.

While Ukraine had to wait for further deliveries of American weapons, it managed to slow the Russian advance and bog down the ground offensive towards the northeast.

kyiv is now pressuring its allies to further ease restrictions on the use of their weapons so it can strike deeper inside enemy territory. President Joe Biden will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in France this week as the West marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day.