A senior Russian lawmaker on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russia with Western missiles would lead to global war with the use of nuclear weapons and that Moscow's response would be tough with more powerful weapons.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia's Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that if the West gave permission for such strikes deep into Russian territory, then it would lead to a "global war with the use of nuclear weapons."
"Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons," said Volodin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin who often gives insights into thinking at the top levels of the Kremlin.
He was responding to a European Parliament vote in favor of letting Kyiv hit Russian targets with Western weapons, and said that Moscow thought the West had forgotten about the sacrifices the USSR made in World War II.