Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia must respond “mercilessly” to Ukraine’s latest raid, adding that there will be “significant political and legal” consequences for the operation.
“It is necessary to draw a serious lesson from what happened and fulfill what the Chief of the General Staff V. Gerasimov promised the Supreme Commander – to mercilessly defeat and destroy the enemy,” Medvedev wrote on Thursday morning.
Medvedev is Russia’s former president and prime minister, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, and made the comments in a lengthy post on social media platform Telegram.
His statements were in response to Tuesday incursion by Ukrainian forces into the country’s southwestern Kursk region.
“There is also another important political and legal consequence of what happened,” Medvedev’s post continued. “From this moment on have [Special Military Operation] must acquire an openly extraterritorial character.
“This is no longer just an operation to return our official territories and punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odessa, to Kharkov, to Dnepropetrovsk, to Nikolaev. To Kiev and beyond. “
This is news and will be updated.