EU reacts to Putin's fearmongering about Europe's direct involvement in war

At a briefing on Friday, 13 September, EU foreign policy spokesperson Peter Stano stated that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s threats to consider NATO and European countries as participants in the war if Western long-range missiles are used on Russian territory will not affect the EU's position on backing Ukraine.

"Putin is making constantly many misguided comments. The fact is that he started the war against Ukraine… Of course, nothing he says will change our positions as long as he continues with this illegal aggression against the Ukrainian people," Peter Stano said at a midday press briefing.

He promised that the EU would continue to support Ukraine, including military support.

"The discussion about lifting the limitations on the use of the weaponry provided by member states is continuing. And we see the results of the discussion by individual decisions, by member states lifting these decisions. There is no EU-wide position on it – of course, it’s up to the member states who are providing the arms to Ukraine’s defence," Stano emphasised. 

On 12 September, Putin stressed that any move by the West to allow Kyiv to use such long-range weapons against targets in Russia would draw NATO into the war with Russia, a sharp escalation of his rhetoric on the war.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine has the right to defend itself, responding to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s remarks. Putin claimed that any use of UK-supplied long-range missiles on Russian territory by Ukrainian forces would lead to NATO's involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Earlier, the Guardian reported that the United Kingdom decided to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike targets in Russia.