Russian leadership has issued a follow-up statement to President Vladimir Putin's Thursday brief video address warning that if the US and UK authorize Ukraine to pursue long-range strikes on Russian soil, then NATO and the Russian Federation will be in an official state of war.
On Friday Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, informed the UN Security council that NATO countries would "start an open war" in allowing Western long-range missiles to target Russia.
"If such a decision is made, that means NATO countries are starting an open war against Russia," Moscow’s envoy introduced. "In that case, we will obviously be forced to make certain decisions, with all the attendant consequences for Western aggressors."
UPDATE 2:23 PM EDT --
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun publicly announced today that "China will militarily support Russia if NATO attacks Russia."
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin made clear in a TV interview that if the US and NATO allow Ukraine to begin using western-supplied long-range missiles, to hit interior Russia, that that would be direct involvement by the United States, European Countries, and NATO, in war with Russia. He went on to point out that modern, precision weapons from the collective West, require satellites to hit targets, and Ukraine does not have any satellites.
As such, Ukraine would have to be able to use US, EU/NATO Satellites, and that is direct involvement in the conflict, by NATO.
More importantly, modern, precision weapons of the collective West, cannot be programmed by Ukrainian troops; they don't know how. Because of the complexity, such target programming would have to be done by actual NATO troops, which is, again, direct involvement by NATO in the conflict.
Putin finished by saying If NATO enters the conflict, that changes the entire essence of the conflict, and Russia would have to make decisions about that based on the new threats posed to it.
TODAY
Earlier today, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations formally notified the UN Security Council that if US and UK leaders allow Ukraine to hit Russia with long-range weapons, then "a state of war" will exist between NATO and the Russian Federation. (Story Here)
