President Vladimir Putin has suggested that the west’s sending of more advanced rocket systems to boost Ukraine’s defences would not bring any fundamental changes to the battlefield.
It comes after Putin earlier said Russia will launch attacks on a new set of Ukrainian targets if the US starts supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles.
According to the TASS news agency, Putin told the state television channel Rossiya-1 that, if such missiles are supplied, “we will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting.”
But despite suggesting they would exacterbate the conflict, president Vladimir Putin said: “We understand that this supply (of advance rocket systems) from the United States and some other countries is meant to make up for the losses of this military equipment.
“This is nothing new,” he said. “It doesn’t change anything in essence.”
It follows reports that multiple explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv early on Sunday, hitting unspecified “infrastructure” targets.
This morning’s attacks mark the first assault on the Ukrainian capital in weeks after a period of relative calm in the city and its suburbs.
