A senior Russian lawmaker has declared that President Vladimir Putin is justified in targeting NATO nations aiding Ukraine, as tensions escalate over military support to Kyiv.
Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma's defense committee, said the supply of Western weapons enabling strikes on Russian territory gives Moscow "every right to strike military facilities in NATO countries" that assist Ukraine, according to Russian news agency TASS.
"Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has made a decision that we fully support," Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin stated on his Telegram channel. He described the move as "an appropriate and long-awaited response," adding that the U.S. and its European allies were "using missiles to strike Russian territory."
"Our country has the right to target military facilities of states that attack us," Volodin continued. "Despite Western claims that Russia will not dare to act, it will—and it has every right to do so," he asserted.
This declaration comes in the wake of a dramatic escalation in the conflict. Ukraine has recently used U.S.-supplied ATACMS and U.K.-provided Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets within Russia, according to reports.
In response, Moscow launched its hypersonic "Oreshnik" missile, which struck a military facility in Ukraine's Dnipro region.
President Putin described the Oreshnik missile, tested for the first time in combat, as traveling at Mach 10 and capable of evading advanced Western defense systems. In a televised statement, he warned that any further provocations would prompt decisive action.
"We have every right to target nations allowing these weapons to be used against us," Putin said.
The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
NATO members have responded cautiously to Russia's escalatory rhetoric.
Hungarian Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced the deployment of advanced air defense systems in Hungary's northeastern region, near its border with Ukraine. He said the move was necessary to address the "greater threat of escalation than ever."
As the conflict intensifies, NATO faces increasing pressure to balance military support for Ukraine while avoiding provocations that could lead to a broader war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized any diplomatic overtures to Putin, warning that negotiations without decisive measures risk emboldening Moscow.
After German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a withdrawal of Russian forces, Zelensky accused Western nations of playing into Putin's hands by entertaining dialogue without concrete action.
"What is needed are strong actions that will force him to peace, not persuasion," Zelensky said.