Russia warns of more strikes in Kyiv; Putin ally says Ukraine heading for collapse into several states

Moscow: The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian ‘decision-making centres’ in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldn't be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the UK of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at UK Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was “not necessarily a problem” if Ukraine's British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision-guided weapons on Kyiv centres that would make such decisions.

It noted that “the presence of citizens of one of the Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centres won't necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.”

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered its third month.

Meanwhile, a powerful secretary of Russia`s Security Council said on Tuesday that Western and Ukrainian government policy was leading toward the break-up of Ukraine. The comments from Nikolai Patrushev amounted to a warning that Russia`s war in Ukraine could lead to a carve-up of the country, for which Moscow would seek to pin the blame on its opponents.

In an interview with government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Patrushev - a key ally of President Vladimir Putin - said the United States had for years been trying to instil hatred for everything Russian in Ukrainians.

"However, history teaches that hatred can never become a reliable factor in national unity," Patrushev said. "If anything today unites the peoples living in Ukraine, it is only fear of the atrocities of nationalist battalions," Patrushev said - a reference to units of Ukraine`s armed forces that Moscow has branded as Nazis as part of its stated rationale for invading the country.

Therefore the result of Western and Kyiv policy could only be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states, he was quoted as saying. His comments, nearly nine weeks into the war, provided the latest indication that Moscow - despite saying at the outset that it had no intention to occupy Ukraine - is set on breaking up the country.

Having been beaten back in an initial attempt to storm Kyiv, Russian forces have regrouped for what Moscow says is a campaign to "liberate" the eastern Donbas region.