Russia: "If Ukraine attacks territory with US weapons, asymmetric retaliation will follow"

Russia has warned that it will carry out "asymmetric retaliation" if Ukraine attacks Russian territory with American-made weapons, major foreign media reported on the 31st (local time), citing the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

On the same day, Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the Defense Committee of the Russian State Duma, stated, "Biden's decision to allow missile attacks within Russia using American weapons will not affect Russia's military operations against Ukraine."

This is a stronger statement compared to the previous day when Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that if Western weapons strike Russian mainland civilian facilities, Russia would respond with "proportional retaliation."

Earlier, American media reported that U.S. President Joe Biden recently approved allowing the Ukrainian military to counterattack Russian territory with American weapons solely for the purpose of defending the direction of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, which is under intense Russian assault.