Kremlin warns of escalation if US allows Kyiv to hit Russia with long-range missiles

By Dmitry Antonov and Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin told the West on Wednesday that any decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range Western missiles would deepen what it called the direct involvement of the U.S. and Europe in the war and would trigger a response from Moscow.

The warning came as senior Ukrainian government officials pressed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British foreign minister David Lammy, on a joint visit to Kyiv, to allow Ukraine to fire long-range U.S. ATACMS missiles and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles at targets deep inside Russia.

Washington has previously been reluctant to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons over fears that this could escalate the 2-1/2-year-old conflict, but there are signs its stance may be shifting.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday his administration was "working that out now" when asked if he would lift restrictions on Kyiv's use of missiles such as ATACMS.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow suspected a U.S. decision to let Kyiv fire such missiles into Russia had already been taken and that there would be a response if that happened.

"It (our response) will be an appropriate one," said Peskov.

"The involvement of the United States of America and European countries in the conflict over Ukraine is direct, and each new step increases the degree of this involvement," he said.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow would be forced to use "more powerful and destructive weapons" against Ukraine if Kyiv started firing long-range Western missiles at Russia.

"Washington and other European states are becoming parties to the war in Ukraine," Volodin said on Telegram.

'DANGERS AND RISKS'

Sergei Ryabkov, one of Russia's deputy foreign ministers, was cited by state news agencies as saying Moscow was worried about what it regarded as a potentially dangerous escalatory scenario and would move to destroy any new deliveries of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine by the United States.

"As was the case with past U.S. arms deliveries to the Kyiv regime, they will all be destroyed," TASS cited Ryabkov as saying. "But the dangers and risks are growing."

The long-range U.S. Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) have a range of up to 190 miles (305 kms) while the British Storm Shadows have a reach of around 155 miles (249 km).

Ukraine is already firing both at Russian targets on territory internationally recognised as Ukraine but wants to use them to hit bases inside Russia itself.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Gareth Jones)