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Moscow on Saturday threatened to reduce Kyiv to a “giant melted spot” if Ukraine is allowed by its allies to use Western long-range missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia.
The threat by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, came as the U.S. and the U.K. are deliberating giving Kyiv permission to use Western weapons to attack strategic targets farther into Russian territory.
Medvedev, who likes to rattle nuclear sabers, said the Kremlin already has “formal” grounds to use nuclear weapons after Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, but could instead utilize newer technologies to create a “giant melted spot” on the site of the Ukrainian capital.
Moscow has been “showing patience,” Medvedev said in a post on Telegram. “However, the pompous Anglo-Saxon imbeciles do not want to admit one thing: any patience comes to an end.”
At the same time, Medvedev said “a nuclear conflict is really not needed by anyone,” adding that: “It is obvious that a nuclear response is an extremely difficult decision with irreversible consequences.”
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joe Biden, at a meeting in Washington on Friday, deliberated over Ukraine’s possible use of British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles on Russian soil, without announcing any decision.
Ahead of that meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin late Thursday said giving Kyiv such permission would put NATO countries “at war with Russia.” Biden dismissed the threat, telling reporters: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday renewed Kyiv’s pleas for expanded use of Western weapons. “We are making progress on the battlefield. But we need permission to use long-range weapons,” Zelenskyy said. “I hope that the U.S. political community understands this clearly and that the relevant decision will be made.”
Speaking after Friday’s meeting with Biden, Starmer said no final decision had been taken on the Storm Shadow missiles. He suggested that further developments may follow at the gathering of the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
Dan Bloom contributed reporting.
