Russia has warned that the West is playing with fire by considering the possibility of allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western missiles. On Tuesday, Russia cautioned the United States that World War Three would not be limited to Europe.
Ukraine launched an attack on Russia’s western Kursk region on Aug. 6, marking the most significant foreign assault on Russian territory since World War Two. In response, President Vladimir Putin promised that Russia would deliver a fitting response.
Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s long-serving foreign minister, accused the West of seeking to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and “asking for trouble” by contemplating Ukrainian requests to ease restrictions on using foreign-supplied weapons. Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin has repeatedly highlighted the risk of a wider war involving the world’s largest nuclear powers, though he has clarified that Russia does not seek a conflict with the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
“We are now confirming once again that playing with fire – and they are like small children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov said in Moscow. He added, “Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively.”
Lavrov also mentioned that Russia is “clarifying” its nuclear doctrine. According to Russia’s 2020 nuclear doctrine, the president might consider using nuclear weapons in response to an attack involving nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or conventional weapons if “the very existence of the state is put under threat.”
Russia’s Response
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently claimed that the attack on Russia’s Kursk region revealed that the Kremlin’s threats of retaliation were a bluff. Zelenskiy stated that Ukraine could not use the full range of weapons at its disposal against some Russian military targets due to restrictions from allies and called for more decisive support from those allies.
Russia claims that Western weapons, including British tanks and U.S. rocket systems, were used by Ukraine in the Kursk attack. Kyiv has acknowledged using U.S. HIMARS missiles to target bridges in Kursk.
The U.S. has denied prior knowledge of Ukraine’s plans for the surprise incursion into Kursk and stated that it did not participate in the operation. However, Putin’s foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, expressed skepticism about Western claims of non-involvement, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described U.S. involvement as “an obvious fact.”
According to The New York Times, the U.S. and Britain provided Ukraine with satellite imagery and other intelligence about the Kursk region following the Ukrainian attack. This intelligence aimed to help Ukraine monitor Russian reinforcements more effectively.