Putin Threatens To Strike New Targets In Ukraine, Says This Is What's Prolonging The War

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a stern warning to Western nations, dissuading them from supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles.

What Happened: The Russian leader said if Kyiv is supplied with advanced rocket systems, he would hit new targets that have so far not been attacked. Putin's comments came from excerpts of an interview that was aired on Rossia-1 state television, Radio Free Europe reported.

Russia, however, did not specify the new areas it intends to target.

Putin also said that by providing weapons to Ukraine, Western nations are operating with the intention of prolonging the war.

In an excerpt from the same interview aired on Saturday, Putin reportedly said the Russian air-defense system has been destroying Ukrainian drones and "cracking them like nuts."

Related Link: Oil Prices Have Inched Above March And May Highs As OPEC+ Weighs The Russia Problem

Why It's Important: The Russia-Ukraine war has been raging since February 24, and has led to the killing of several thousands of people and the displacement of millions.

To fight the war against Russia, Ukraine has sought support from Western nations and the supply of advanced multiple rocket launch systems such as M270 and the M142 HIMARS for carrying out air strikes against the Russian army. The U.S. 

President Joe Biden has reportedly given an assurance to supply HIMARS, conditional upon Ukraine not using it to strike targets inside Russia.

Photo: Courtesy of ΝΕΑ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ and Charles Hutchins on Flickr