Putin Warns US About 'Price' To Be Paid If Pentagon Supplies Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin (@KremlinRussia_E)

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin sent a serious warning to the United States. US President Joe Biden and his allies if they continue to supply long-range missiles to Ukraine, Putin will again strike new targets.

The United States has ruled out sending its own or NATO troops to Ukraine but Washington and its European allies have supplied Kyiv with weapons such as drones, howitzer heavy artillery, Stinger anti-aircraft, and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

President Joe Biden last week said Washington would supply Ukraine with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. The plan was implemented after assurances from Kyiv that it would not be used to target Russia.

Putin said the arms shipment changed nothing but warned that there would be a reactive reaction if the US supplied long-range munitions for the HIMARS system which has a maximum range of up to 300 km or more.

"We will strike targets that we have not hit," Putin told state television channel Rossiya-1 as quoted by Channel News Asia, Sunday, June 6. Putin said that if the US would really supply long-range missiles to Ukraine.

The range of the Lockheed Martin HIMARS system depends on the ammunition supplied. And the missile is actually pretty much the same as the Soviet-made missile system that Ukraine already has.

"This is nothing new. It basically doesn't change anything," Putin said. He said the weapons were simply replacing the ones Russia had destroyed.

The US Department of Defense said it was supplying Ukraine with four HIMARS M142 systems along with the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System which is said to have a range of more than 64 km - double the range of the howitzers it supplies.