Western supplies of weapons to Ukraine would change nothing on the battlefield but only further escalate the conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, and added that foreign-made tanks were a “priority target” for Moscow's forces.
In comments on state television made after a Nato summit in which Ukraine won a promise of eventual membership, Mr Putin also reaffirmed his stance that such a move would threaten Russia's own security and escalate global tension further.
“The supply of new weapons will only aggravate the situation … and will further fuel the conflict,” Mr Putin said.
Asked about France's decision to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles that can travel 250 kilometres, Mr Putin said: “Yes, they cause damage, but nothing critical happens in the war zone with their use.”
Mr Putin added that foreign-made tanks were “a priority target for our guys”.
Western countries have supplied billions of dollars' worth of arms to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded the country on February 24 last year in what Mr Putin calls a “special military operation” to “denazify” the country.
At a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius this week, Nato leaders agreed that Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance at some point in the future but stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation.
500 days of war in Ukraine – in pictures
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As the war in Ukraine approaches the 500-day mark, 'The National' looks back at the conflict. All photos: AP -
Ukrainian soldiers cover their ears to protect from Russian tank shelling in a shelter on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region in July -
A cemetery in evening sunlight near Lviv in July -
Flooded streets in Kherson in June after the walls of the Kakhovka dam collapsed -
Tetiana with her pets, Tsatsa and Chunya, in her house that was flooded when the Kakhovka dam in Kherson was breached -
Young cadets sing the national anthem during a graduation ceremony at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv in June -
Bakhmut in April, the site of the heaviest battles in the Donetsk region -
A message on a mirror reads 'Ukraine will prevail' in a badly damaged school in Kharkiv in February -
Ukrainian servicemen in position close to the border with Belarus in February -
Hospital staff in Kherson with orphaned children at the regional hospital maternity ward in November 2022 -
A sniper unit aims at Russian positions in the Kherson region during an operation in November 2022 -
Ukrainian artillerymen fire at Russian positions near Bakhmut in November 2022 -
A Ukrainian serviceman near Oskil village in October 2022 -
Funeral workers carry the coffin of an unidentified civilian who died in the Bucha community during the Russian occupation period in February-March 2022 -
Cadets practise with gas masks in a bomb shelter on the first day of school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Ukraine, in September -
A young girl with her dog waves goodbye to her grandparents from an evacuation train leaving Pokrovsk in August 2022 -
A child looks up at a building destroyed during attacks in Irpin in May 2022 -
An elderly patient boards a medical evacuation train in Pokrovsk in May 2022 -
Nila Zelinska holds a doll belonging to her granddaughter that she found in her destroyed house in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, in May 2022 -
Residents shelter in the city subway of Kharkiv in May 2022 -
Destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, April 2022 -
A family fleeing the village of Ruska Lozova in April 2022 arrive in their shrapnel-riddled car at a screening point in Kharkiv -
Smoke fills the air after shelling in Odesa in April -
Yehor, 7, with a wooden toy rifle next to destroyed Russian military vehicles near Chernihiv in April 2022 -
Security Service of Ukraine servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv in April 2022 -
A Ukrainian soldier during a pick-up game of football in Irpin in April 2022 -
The partially abandoned town of Chernobyl in April 2022 -
Ruslan Mishanin, 36, bids farewell to his nine-year-old daughter as the train with his family leaves Odesa for Poland in April -
Halyna Falko, 52, talks to reporters in March 2022 while looking at the destruction caused to her house near Brovary after a Russian attack -
Anti-tank barricades on a street in preparation for a possible Russian offensive in Odesa in March 2022 -
A man recovering items from a burning shop after a Russian attack in Kharkiv in March 2022 -
Ukrainians under a destroyed bridge as they as they cross the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv in March 2022
G7 countries also unveiled an international framework for the long-term security of Ukraine to boost its defences against Russia and deter Moscow from future aggression.
In his first public response to the moves, Mr Putin reiterated Moscow's strong opposition to Ukraine ever joining Nato, saying this would threaten Russia's own strategic interests.
“This will not increase the security of Ukraine itself. And in general it will make the world much more vulnerable,” he said.
Any country has the right to improve its security, he added, but not at another country's expense.
