Britain sends rocket launchers to Ukraine in the wake of ‘deterrent’ Putin strike threat

The UK is increasing its support for forces in Ukraine opposing Vladimir Putin’s Russian invaders by supplying multi-launch M270 missile systems

Vladimir Putin has threatened to hit new targets if western Ukraine supplies long-range missiles to fight Russian invaders.

The warning came hours before the Defense Ministry announced it would help Ukrainian fighters defend their country by deploying rocket launchers capable of hitting targets 50 miles away.

Explosions rocked Kyiv in the first attack on the capital in weeks as Russian strategic bombers fired missiles from as far away as the Caspian Sea.

Putin said the “fuss” over Western arms sales to Ukraine was intended to prolong the conflict while Russian troops battle entrenched defenders in the eastern Donbass region.

He warned that if the US sends long-range missiles into the war zone, “we will hit the targets we haven’t hit yet.”

The Defense Ministry said it will send the M270 multiple-launch missile system into “a significant performance boost for Ukraine’s armed forces.”

The move was “closely coordinated with the US decision to donate the highly mobile artillery missile system” to Ukraine.

It followed calls from Ukraine for “longer-range precision weapons to defend against Russian heavy artillery, which is being used to devastating effect in the eastern Donbass region,” the defense ministry said.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace added: “Britain stands with Ukraine in this fight and is taking a leading role in providing its heroic troops with the vital weapons they need to defend their country from an unprovoked invasion.

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“If the international community continues to support it, I believe Ukraine can win. As Russia’s tactics change, so must our support for Ukraine.

“These high-performance multiple missile systems will allow our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery that Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to level cities.”

Yesterday’s attacks on Kyiv rocked two of the capital’s eastern districts, Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi, according to the Ukrainian Air Force and the city’s mayor.

Ukrainian officials said the missiles were fired by nuclear-capable Tu-95 Bear bombers.

One flew “critically low” over a nuclear power plant in the southern Mykolaiv region and was likely destined for Kyiv, state-owned nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said.

Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said the missile salvo hit railway infrastructure.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it fired missiles at long range and destroyed T-72 tanks and armored vehicles shipped to Ukraine from Eastern European countries and being held in a rail vehicle repair building.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called for more Western sanctions against Russia over the attacks, adding: “Today’s missile attacks on Kyiv have only one aim – to kill as many as possible.”