Russian President Vladimir Putin said, in a televised address, that the war in Ukraine has acquired features of a global conflict after missile strikes against Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions by Western missiles.
"Since this moment, as we have pointed out repeatedly, the conflict in Ukraine, provoked by the West, has acquired elements of global nature," he said on Thursday.
The Russian President vowed that Russia would respond decisively in case of escalation in Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.
He stressed that Russia has the right to use weapons against the military facilities of the countries that use their weapons against Russia.
"I would like to stress once again that it is not Russia that is destroying the international security system, but the US," Putin stressed in the speech.
Meanwhile, he confirmed that Russia has successfully tested a new medium-range ballistic missile Oreshnik in response to enemy actions.
Mr Putin faulted the West for intensifying the war by allowing Ukraine to hit Russian territory with long-range missiles.
In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces carried out a joint strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
He also indicated that, on the battlefield, Russia's newest medium-range missile system was tested in combat conditions, "among other things. In this instance with a ballistic missile, in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment."
The launch signals an unambiguous escalation of Russia's military response to NATO involvement in the Ukraine war.
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