By Lucy Caulkett-
Vladimir Putin has threatened allies of Ukraine that if any country were to intervene in the war, it would be hit with “lightning-fast” retaliation.
The Russian president’s remarks to lawmakers in St Petersburg came as the UK called for Moscow to be so weakened militarily that Putin could no longer threaten European security.
“If someone intends to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside, and create strategic threats for Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast,” said Putin. He said Moscow had “all the tools for this”, saying he “wanted everyone to know” Russia would “use them if necessary”.
The British defence secretary, Ben Wallac, has said the UK supports pushing Russia completely out of Ukraine, saying Putin may order his troops to dig in and become a “cancerous growth” in the country.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of “energy blackmail” against Europe after its decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.
Global organisations and volunteers are rushing to get emergency contraception into Ukrainian hospitals as reports of rapes continue to rise, particularly in the east.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson has accused Western counties of openly calling on Ukraine to attack Russia, adding that the West should take Moscow seriously when it says strikes on Russian territory will have consequences.
It comes as Russia reported a series of blasts in the south of the country and a fire at an ammunition depot on Wednesday.
Russia has recently raised its rhetoric of attacking the west in retaliation for encouraging Ukraine to launch attacks on Russian soil, and for supplying them with weapons. But Putin’s dictatorship regime have never addressed the many reports of serious atrocities like rape of Ukranian women by Russian soldiers.
The West have increased its supply of weapons to Russia, and Uk Foreign Secretary, Liz Trust recently announced plans to increase the supply of warheads to Russia whilst, doubling down on the need for Britain to continue to supply Ukraine with weapons.
Supporting Ukrainians at this time is widely agreed to be necessary, but there are also concerns that the rhetoric coming from UK ministers may be unduly provocative of the frustrated Russian dictator president, whose army have suffered multiple losses in the course of the war sparked by the Russian regime.