Caution. Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday June 5 that Moscow would strike new targets if the West provided long-range missiles to Ukraine. If long-range missiles are delivered to Ukraine, “then we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons (…) to hit sites that we have not targeted so far”said the Russian president in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel.
Vladimir Putin has further considered that the current arms deliveries were aimed at “prolong the conflict”.
Despite these threats, the United Kingdom announced on Monday June 6 that it would provide Ukraine with rocket launchers with a range of 80 kilometers. These multiple launch rocket systems (M270 MLRS) will allow“significantly increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian forces” in front of the Russian offensive, the British Ministry of Defense said in a press release. “Russia’s strategy is changing, and our support must change too”British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said in a statement.
Several Russian strikes targeted kyiv on Sunday at dawn, the first since the end of April. They affected the districts of Darnytsky and Dniprovsky, where an injured person was hospitalized, according to the mayor of kyiv Vitali Klitschko and witnesses. According to the Ukrainian air force, several cruise missiles were fired in the direction of kyiv by Russian TU-95 planes based in the Caspian Sea, one of which was destroyed.
Railway infrastructure was targeted, according to various Ukrainian sources, including the Ukrzaliznytsia railway company. Finally, Moscow claimed to have destroyed tanks delivered by Eastern European countries. “High-precision, long-range missiles fired (…) at the outskirts of kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by Eastern European countries and other armored vehicles that were in hangars “said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
The Ukrainian company Energoatom, which manages the country’s nuclear power plants, for its part, said that a missile had flown at a “extremely low level above the Pivdenno-Ukrainska power plant”in the Mykolaiv region, in the south of the country, denouncing “an act of nuclear terrorism”. “This missile was probably fired in the direction of kyiv”, according to Energoatom.