Get you up to speed: Putin smirks when claiming plot to launch attacks on British soil is a ‘military secret’ | News World
Vladimir Putin stated at a press conference in Kyrgyzstan that British military facilities in Ukraine are “absolutely” a Russian target but questioned their existence. He remarked, “If there are, then absolutely, I can confirm once again: any military facilities in Ukraine are our legitimate target, British or otherwise.”
The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed it operates four maintenance repair facilities in Ukraine, with plans for a fifth. Additionally, amidst ongoing tensions, Kremlin adviser Andrei Fyodorov indicated that Russian officials are under pressure to take action against the UK in response to its support for Ukraine.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to support Ukraine, stating that assistance would continue despite Russian threats. Meanwhile, Kremlin adviser Andrei Fyodorov indicated that “unknown sources” might soon target British drone factories, highlighting increasing pressure on Moscow to take action against the UK.
What remains unclear — It is unclear which specific British drone factories Kremlin adviser Andrei Fyodorov referred to as potential targets.
Putin claims possible targeting of British military sites is a ‘military secret’
Vladimir Putin has once again taunted the UK by saying it’s a ‘secret’ whether he will target British drone sites.
The president was asked yesterday evening at a press conference in Kyrgyzstan how Russia will respond to the UK’s giving weapons to Ukraine.
Smirking, he told the Russian state media broadcaster RT: ‘It’s a secret. A military secret.’
‘British military facilities’ inside Ukraine, he added, are ‘absolutely’ a Russian target.
Though he had to ask the RT reporter whether this was the case, saying: ‘Are there British military facilities in Ukraine?’
When the journalist replied that this was a hypothetical question, Putin said: ‘If there are, then absolutely, I can confirm once again: any military facilities in Ukraine are our legitimate target, British or otherwise,’ he said.
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Andy Burnham has said the UK’s support of Ukraine wouldn’t go away with his predecessor, Keir Starmer (Picture: AFP)
The UK Ministry of Defence revealed earlier this year that it runs four military repair facilities in Ukraine, with a fifth on the way.
These sites, called maintenance, repair and overhaul systems (MRO), do not manufacture weapons, just fix damaged military hardware.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham vowed last month to keep backing Ukraine amid its grinding, years-long war with Russia.
He agreed to hand over blueprints for the British-made parts of the SCALP missile, a French version of the UK’s powerful Storm Shadow missile.
The blueprints will allow Ukraine to produce the weapon, which has a range of about 155 miles, domestically.
Kyiv has had to repeatedly ask Western nations to send long-range missiles, as while it has the technology needed to fire them – an ageing fleet of Soviet-designed fighter jets – it doesn’t know how to make them.
Moscow has repeatedly cast the UK as a meddling agitator in its war against Kyiv for providing the country with weapons and financial aid.
Just one day after Burnham backed Ukraine, Kremlin adviser Andrei Fyodorov said that ‘unknown sources’ may soon strike British drone factories.
He told the BBC that Moscow officials are facing ‘serious’ pressure ‘to undertake certain measures against the UK’.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also threatened to attack British military targets in Ukraine and ‘beyond’ in relation.
Spokesman Maria Zakharova accused London of being ‘one step away’ from ‘inevitable catastrophic consequences’, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
Russia named four locations in the UK as targets in April for supporting Ukraine in the production of attack drones.
The locations included locations in London, Reading, Leicester and a road running through the RAF base used by the United States Air Force in Mildenhall, Suffolk
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