Donetsk, Feb 21 — DAN. The supplies of longer-range weapons to Ukraine are making Russia move this threat farther away from its borders, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.
“One thing must be clear to everybody: the more longer-range Western systems are supplied to Ukraine, the farther we’ll be forced to move the threat away from our borders. It’s natural,” Putin said. “The western elites do not hide their aim to inflict — I quote — ‘strategic defeat on Russia.’
“What does it imply for us? It means that they want to finish us once and for all, that is, they intend to scale up the local conflict to the phase of global confrontation, ” the Russian president said.
This is how Moscow understands the West’s actions and will react accordingly. “But they cannot be unaware that defeating Russia in a battlefield is impossible, ” he said.*jk