Putin says Ukraine war has gone 'global', hints at strikes on the West

His address to nation follows test-firing of a new intermediate-range missile at Ukraine

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MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Nov 21 that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a "global" war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries.

The Kremlin strongman spoke out after a day of frayed nerves, with Russia test-firing a new-generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine - which Mr Putin hinted was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the strike a major ramping up of the "scale and brutality" of the war by a "crazy neighbour", while Kyiv's main backer the US said that Russia was to blame for escalating the conflict "at every turn".

Intermediate-range missiles typically have a reach of up to 5,500km - enough to make good on Mr Putin's threat of striking the West.

In a defiant address to the nation, Russia's president railed at Ukraine's allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation.

In recent days, Ukraine has fired US- and UK-supplied missiles at Russian territory for the first time, escalating already sky-high tensions in the brutal nearly three-year-long conflict.

"We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities," Mr Putin said.

He said the US-sent Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and British Storm Shadow payloads were shot down by Moscow's air defences, adding: "The goals that the enemy obviously set were not achieved."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov did, however, say Moscow informed Washington of the missile's launch half an hour before it was fired through an automatic nuclear de-escalation hotline, in remarks cited in state media.