Ceremonial gunfire rang out across the British capital to mark the occasion
world4 days ago
The Kremlin said on Monday that US President Joe Biden's outgoing administration will further inflame tensions by allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had seen media reports that Biden cleared strikes, adding: "It's obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps in order to continue fuelling the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions".
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post that the major policy shift -- long demanded by Ukraine -- was in response to North Korea deploying troops to help Moscow's war effort.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pushed for authorisation from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia.
"If such a decision was really formulated and announced to the Kyiv regime, then of course it's a qualitatively new spiral of tensions and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of the US's engagement in the conflict," Peskov told journalists.
He said President Vladimir Putin had expressed Russia's position clearly in September when the leader said that such a move would put NATO "at war" with Russia.
In such a case, "we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face," Putin said in September.
Peskov said on Monday that Putin's position is that such strikes would ultimately be carried out not by Ukraine but by the countries that give permission for such use of missiles.
The Kremlin spokesman said this was because "the targets are set not by Ukrainian military but by specialists from these Western countries. That fundamentally changes the modality of their engagement."
"That's the danger and provocative nature of this situation," he added.
Ceremonial gunfire rang out across the British capital to mark the occasion
world4 days ago
The pair became embroiled in an extraordinary war of words during Trump's first presidency
world4 days ago
In response, Elon Musk said of the British news publisher: 'They are irrelevant'
world5 days ago
This comes two weeks after flash floods prompted rivers to overflow parts of Spain, killing more than 200 people and destroying homes and property
world5 days ago
A top official said that Russia's air base was not being used to supply Hezbollah with weapons
world5 days ago
They also said X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has not complied with an earlier order by the Paris Court of Justice to release information required to calculate the amount owed
world6 days ago
Sheikh Mohamed reiterated the importance of accelerating climate action
world6 days ago
More than 75 leaders are expected in Baku but the heads of some of the most powerful and polluting economies are not attending this year's event
world6 days ago