Russia has issued a new warning against Ukraine’s allies, following recent calls to loosen restrictions on Kyiv’s Western-supplied weaponry.
Now over 900-days into the Russia-Ukraine war, the ominous threat comes amid increasing geopolitical frictions between Moscow and Ukraine’s global allies, and growing concerns over the conflict’s potential for escalation.
“The flight time of the Sarmat missile to Strasbourg is 3 minutes 20 seconds,” Russian politician Vyacheslav Volodin posted to Telegram on Thursday.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Russian Sarmat has a range of between 6,214 and 11,184 miles, putting the French city well within its reach.
Volodin, who has served as the Chair of Russia’s State Duma since 2016, was writing in response to the recent calls from the European Parliament to lift limitations on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied weaponry within Russian territory and to speed up the delivery of arms to Kyiv.
Chair of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, during a meeting with the Russian President and the head of the Federation Council, in Moscow on August 5, 2024. Volodin warned that the European Parliament’s latest resolution calling for states to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s weaponry would be met with “a tough response using more powerful weapons.
Gavriil Grigorov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging European Union (E.U.) member nations to allow Ukraine to employ “Western weapons systems against legitimate military targets in Russia.”
The resolution, which was adopted with 425 votes in favor, 131 against and 63 abstentions, stated that, “without lifting current restrictions, Ukraine cannot fully exercise its right to self-defense and remains exposed to attacks on its population and infrastructure.”
It also called for E.U. countries to fulfil previous promises of further deliveries of weapons, air defense systems and ammunition, “including TAURUS missiles,” German- and Swedish-made cruise missiles which carry a range of over 300 miles.
“If something like this happens, Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons,” Volodin’s post continued. “What the European Parliament is calling for leads to a world war using nuclear weapons.”
While Ukraine has been sent long-range missiles from the U.S., U.K. and France— including Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS —it has so-far been barred from using these for strikes deep inside Russia over fears that this could escalate the conflict.
The E.U. resolution follows numerous appeals from Kyiv to use Western weaponry for long-range strikes, which Zelensky called the “one decision” that could prevent the advances of the Russian Army, allowing it to target air bases used by Putin to launch bombardments against Ukrainian cities.
“If our partners lifted all restrictions on long-range capabilities, Ukraine would not need to physically enter the Kursk region to protect Ukrainian citizens in the border area and destroy Russia’s potential for aggression,” the president said on August 19.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a trilateral meeting on September 11, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Kyiv has repeatedly requested permission to use U.S. and European weaponry to strike targets within Russia.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Volodin’s is not the first warning from Moscow over the easing of restrictions on Ukrainian weaponry.
On September 11, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that, were the U.S. and European governments to drop the prohibition on long-range strikes, Moscow would issue an “an appropriate response.”
This came a day after President Joe Biden said that his administration was “working that out now,” when asked whether the U.S. would lift the restrictions on the use of its weaponry by Kyiv.
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