Russia poses ‘direct threat’ to UK with missile attacks if Putin loses war

Ukraine: Freedom of Russia Legion fight in Belgorod

RAF chief Sir Mike Wigston has warned Russia will want to vindicate itself against the West should it lose the war against Ukraine.

The British Air Chief Marshal said Russia will continue to be a “direct threat” to Britain even if Vladimir Putin were to be ousted as the Russian leader.

Sir Mike told the Daily Telegraph: “When the Ukraine conflict is over and Ukraine has restored its borders, as it must, we will have a damaged, vindictive and brutal Russia, whose means of harming us is through air attack, missile attack and subsurface attack.

“There is a whole structure and a hierarchy behind Putin. So even if Putin was to disappear off the stage, there are countless others that could replace him that could be as equally as brutal and vicious to their own people and to neighbouring states.”

The warning comes as Russia’s southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine came under attack Friday from Ukrainian artillery fire, mortar shells and drones, authorities said, hours after two drones struck a Russian city in an area next to the annexed Crimea Peninsula.

Moscow’s forces, meanwhile, struck a building containing psychology and veterinary clinics in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine, killing two people and wounding 30, including two children, Ukrainian officials said.

Video released by regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak showed fire engulfing the three-story building that appeared almost destroyed, with only parts of a wall standing, as firefighters battled the flames.

A Russian S-300 missile hit a dam in the Karlivka district of Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine, threatening nearby settlements with flooding.

The town of Graivoron in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 7 kilometres (more than 4 miles) from the Ukrainian border, came under fire for several hours, damaging four houses, a store, a car, a gas pipeline and a power line, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

READ MORE: Anti-Putin group vows there will be more incursions into Russia

Closer to the frontier, a recreation centre, a shop and an empty house were damaged in the village of Glotovo. One woman was wounded when nearby Novaya Tavolzhanka was shelled, Gladkov said.

Earlier this week, the Belgorod region was the target of one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago. Details of the raid were murky. Russia blamed the Ukrainian armed forces, but two Russian groups said they were involved, with the aim of bringing down Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Officials in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar, in the region of the same name bordering Crimea, said two drones struck there. Witnesses told local media they heard something like the sound of a moped and then two explosions.

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Drone attacks against Russian border regions have been a regular occurrence since the start of the invasion in February 2022, with attacks increasing last month. Earlier this month, an oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones on two straight days.

At a meeting in Estonia, German and Baltic leaders played down concerns about fighting spilling over into Russia.

“Russia attacked Ukraine, and so Ukraine can defend itself,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “It is clear that the weapons we have delivered will only be used on Ukrainian territory.”

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas noted that “Ukraine does not have any wish to invade Russia,” and Lithuanian Prime Minster Ingrida Simonyte added: “I’m somewhat puzzled by the worry of Russia because Russia is at war -– so it’s quite strange to think that the war can only be in that other territory that you invaded.”

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