Shoigu Threatens Kyiv with an Attack on Decision-Making Centers

Moscow has intelligence that Kyiv is planning to attack Russian territory with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles, Shoigu claims. The use of Western weapons for these purposes would mean the involvement of the US and Britain in the military conflict. Russia will launch immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine if the Ukrainian Armed Forces attack Russian territory - including Crimea - with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles, Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said. The use of these missiles outside the special military operation zone would mean a full-fledged involvement of the US and the UK in the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine, Shoigu said in his opening speech at the Ministry’s board meeting. The Russian Defence Minister also said that Ukrainian troops continued to attempt an offensive in three directions: in south Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk regions. This involves elite units trained in NATO countries and equipped with Western weapons. The Russian Defence Ministry reported several times on the strike on Ukrainian decision-making centres without specifying which facilities were attacked and where they were located. On 30 May, the Defence Ministry said that terrorist acts on the Russian territory were being planned in one of such centres under the direction of specialists of Western special services. The Kremlin said that the response to one of such Russian strikes was a drone attack on Moscow in late May. The deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitriy Medvedev, also threatened to retaliate if Western arms were used against Russian territories. He suggested that centres “not even on Kyiv’s territory” could be hit. The British Foreign Office said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces can attack “legitimate military targets” outside Ukraine as this is an element of Kyiv’s self-defence. The White House said that it did not encourage Ukraine to launch strikes on the Russian territory. The State Department noted that the Ukrainian side had the right “to decide for itself how to defend its territory”.