‘It won’t be pretty’: Russia threatens West and Ukraine as decision on long-range strikes looms

Russian officials threatened the West on Saturday with an uncontrolled escalation of war and Ukraine with the destruction of Kyiv as western leaders discussed whether to allow Ukraine to use their weapons for strikes deep into Russian territory.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Friday that his plan to achieve victory depended on Washington’s decision, a clear reference to the authorisation for long-range strikes that Kyiv has long sought from Nato allies.
Andriy Yermak, head of Mr Zelenskiy’s office, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday: “Strong decisions are needed. Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities where it originates.”
Kyiv has said such strikes are critical for its efforts to restrict Moscow’s ability to attack Ukraine, but allies have so far been reluctant to permit them, citing fears Moscow will treat them as an escalation and doubting their efficiency.
While no official decision on the matter has been announced so far, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov alleged it had already been made and communicated to Kyiv, and that Moscow would have to respond with actions of its own.
“The decision has been made, the carte blanche and all indulgences have been given [to Kyiv], so we are ready for everything,” the RIA news agency quoted Mr Ryabkov as saying.
“And we will react in a way that will not be pretty.”
The warning comes as the United Arab Emirates mediated an exchange of 206 prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, Emirati state news agency WAM said on Saturday. The news agency said it was the country’s eighth such mediation.
Mr Zelenskiy said Ukraine brought home on Saturday 103 servicemen from Russian captivity, announcing the second swap between Moscow and Kyiv in two days.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of the country’s security council, said the West was testing Russia’s patience but it was not limitless.
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Mr Medvedev said Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which Mr Zelenskiy described as a successful operation slowing Russia’s advance, already gave Russia formal grounds to use its nuclear arsenal.
He said that Moscow could either resort to nuclear weapons in the end, or use some of its non-nuclear but still deadly novel weapons for a large-scale attack.
“And that would be it. A giant, grey, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities’,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, referring to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Mr Yermak, in turn, said of Russian president Vladimir Putin: “Loud threats of Putin’s regime testify only to his fear that terror may come to an end.”
On Friday, Joe Biden dismissed sabre-rattling threats made by Mr Putin as the US president met the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the White House.
Mr Biden said he did not accept that Ukraine using western-made Storm Shadow missiles to bomb targets in Russia would amount to Nato going to war with Moscow.
At a foreign policy summit on Friday afternoon, Mr Biden said: “I do not think much about Vladimir Putin.”
Mr Biden and Mr Starmer’s top foreign policy teams were meeting at the Blue Room in the White House. At the start of the meeting, James Matthews from Sky News jumped the gun by asking Mr Biden: “What do you say to Vladimir Putin’s threat of war?”
Mr Biden scolded him. “You be quiet, I’m going to speak, okay?” the president said, before beginning his prepared remarks.
Also present at the Blue Room meeting were Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary. Other British participants included Tim Barrow, the national security adviser, and Mr Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray.
Mr Starmer flew over from London on Thursday for the working meeting amid escalating tensions with the Kremlin after the UK had indicated that the US had agreed to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles to bomb Russia.
After the summit, Mr Starmer said the meeting was not about a particular decision on Storm Shadow. “Well, we’ve had a long and productive discussion on a number of problems, including Ukraine, as you’d expect, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, talking strategically about tactical decisions,” he said.
However, Mr Biden indicated the topic came under discussion between the leaders and their teams. In response to a shouted question asking how soon he was prepared to let Ukraine fire missiles deeper into Russia, Mr Biden said: “We’re going to discuss that now.”
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The British Storm Shadow missiles, made by a European company, can strike targets at least 305km away and Ukraine wants to use them to bomb airbases, missile sites and other military targets in the Russian heartlands.
Earlier, Russia announced it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow on accusations of espionage. Moscow’s FSB domestic spy agency said on Friday it had acted on documents showing part of the foreign office was helping co-ordinate what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” in Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskiy’s pleas come as Russian forces shelled 15 border areas of Ukraine’s Sumy region a total of 84 times on Friday, killing two people and wounding nine, the regional authority said.
The authority, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said two people had died near the town of Yampil. Sumy region has long been the target of Russian shelling in the 2½-year-old war. It lies opposite Russia’s southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have launched an incursion since early in August.
– Guardian/Reuters