Ukraine war: Russia accuses UK of provoking attacks on its territory

The Russian government has accused the UK of "provoking" Ukraine into attacking facilities on Russian soil.

The Russian defence ministry said it was ready to attack targets in Kyiv in response, while its foreign minister accused Nato of conducting a proxy war.

Sergei Lavrov also said Western weapons sent to Ukraine would be fair targets.

It comes after a UK defence minister said it was "not necessarily a problem" for Ukraine to use UK-supplied arms against military targets in Russia.

James Heappey said Ukrainian military strikes to disrupt supply lines were a "legitimate" part of war and described Russian claims of Nato being in conflict with Russia as "nonsense".

The UK government has announced it will give Ukrainian forces a small number of anti-aircraft vehicles.

Western countries have donated hundreds of millions of pounds of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion back in February and Nato and European Union officials are meeting in Germany to discuss further military assistance.

Russia has focused its forces on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, with the UK's Ministry of Defence reporting the city of Kreminna, in Luhansk, has fallen.

Russia has claimed Ukrainian forces have attacked targets within its territory, including an oil depot in Belgorod, but Ukraine has not confirmed any strikes.

The Russian defence ministry has also accused the UK of provoking Ukraine into attacks on facilities located in Russian territory, the Interfax news agency reports.

It added that the military would give a "proportional response" to any such attacks, adding: "The Russian army is ready to deliver retaliatory strikes against decision-making centres in Kyiv using high accuracy weaponry".

On Monday Mr Lavrov claimed the West was "pouring oil on the fire" by providing Ukraine with firepower and repeated warnings that the conflict could lead to a third world war.

But Mr Heappey said the West had been very careful about the donation of weapons to Ukraine, which was not a "purely Nato endeavour".

He said Russia had been saying it was in a conflict with Nato before the war began - "it's nonsense and [Mr] Lavrov knows it".

Mr Heappey also said he thought the chances of a nuclear war were "vanishingly small", with no-one wanting such an outcome to the conflict.

Asked about the alleged Ukrainian attacks, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was Ukraine that makes the decisions of where and what to target, rather than the countries or companies that manufacture and export the weapons.

Mr Heappey added: "It is entirely legitimate to go after targets in the depth of your opponents to disrupt their logistics and supply lines."

He added that it was also a legitimate part of war for Russian forces to be striking targets in western Ukraine to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines, as long as they avoided targeting civilians - "which unfortunately they have not taken much regard for so far".

UK defence sources have sought to clarify Mr Heappey's remarks, who also told Times Radio it was "not necessarily a problem" for British-supplied arms to be used by Ukrainian forces against military targets in Russia, after acknowledging that weapons now being supplied have the range to be used over borders.

The sources said the UK was not involved in Ukrainian targeting and the minister's use of the phrase "deep strike precision targeting" referred to stopping the relentless bombardment of Russian artillery, not striking targets in Russia.

"The UK and many other western allies are now providing longer-range weapon systems to help counter the indiscriminate artillery fire that the Russian Armed Forces have been raining down on besieged Ukrainian cities," the sources told the BBC.

"Targeting is a matter for Ukraine, but the UK expects all parties in this conflict to decide on their military targets in full compliance with the laws of armed conflict."

Ukraine is fighting an existential war with Russia so it is unsurprising Ukrainian forces should target supply lines over the Russian border.

It is equally unsurprising Western powers are relaxed that some of their weaponry are used in such strikes.

What is interesting about James Heappey's remarks is their frankness.

In other conflicts, such as in Yemen, British ministers tend to be coy about the use of British weapons.

On one level, the defence minister is just revealing his usual candour. He often speaks more as a former soldier than a politician.

But on another level, his remarks reflect Nato's deepening involvement in this conflict.

The weapons provided by western powers are getting bigger and more powerful.

It is one thing to give Ukraine short-range anti-tank bazookas. It is another to provide them with drones and artillery that can cross borders.

The line between defending Ukraine and attacking Russia is increasingly blurred.

For months Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking Western allies for more weapons to fight off the Russian invasion.

On Monday, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced the UK would gift a small number of Stormer vehicles fitted with launchers for Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles to give Ukrainian forces "enhanced, short-range anti-air capabilities both day and night".

He also told the Commons around 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while 2,000 of its armoured vehicles had either been destroyed or captured.