«Ukraine's legal right»: Zelenskyy answered Putin about the use of long-range weapons

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, photo from Telegram channel Zelenskyy/official

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commented on the statements of the Russian President, Volodymyr Putin, about Ukraine's alleged «new step» in the war due to the use of long-range weapons.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine has every right to use these weapons for defense, guided by the norms of international law.

«This was not the first use of such weapons by Ukraine. We have the full right to do so in accordance with the norms of international law; our right to self-defense is the same as that of any other nation,» Zelenskyy said.

The president also commented on the missile attack on the Dnipro, stressing that it is a step towards escalation.

«A new ballistic missile was used. Putin hit our city of Dnipro, one of the largest cities in Ukraine. This is an obvious and serious increase in the scale and brutality of this war, a cynical violation of the UN Charter by Russia. And I emphasize: this is Russia's second step towards escalation in a year,» he added.

As you know, on the morning of November 21, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with intercontinental ballistic, aeroballistic and cruise missiles. Dnipro came under Russian fire. It is noted that the intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile from the Tambov region, and the Kh-101 cruise missiles from the Volgograd region.

Subsequently, Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had struck the city of Dnipro with a medium-range Oreshnik ballistic missile equipped with a non-nuclear hypersonic variant. According to him, this strike was allegedly a response to strikes by American and British weapons on the territory of Russia.

The President of Russia added that they «have the right to strike» at military facilities of countries that allow the use of their weapons for attacks on the Russian Federation.