Russia will destroy any facilities used by Western countries to shoot down Russian drones and missiles over Ukrainian territory, State Duma Defense Committee member Andrey Kolesnik said in comments to Lenta.ru, responding to a call from Kiev.

Earlier, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the UN, Andrey Melnik, urged Western states to intercept Russian Armed Forces UAVs and missiles in Ukrainian airspace.

Kolesnik said that if such a scenario unfolds, Moscow would move to military countermeasures and would not need any special authorization to do so. According to him, Russia would defend itself under any circumstances, and facilities involved in shooting down its combat assets over Ukraine would become targets. He described this as part of the logic of military action and said the matter would not be up for discussion.

The lawmaker did not rule out that such steps could lead to a large-scale war between Russia and the West. At the same time, he argued that Western countries have long been involved in the conflict with Russia by supplying Ukraine with weapons and intelligence, as well as providing target designation from airborne early warning aircraft.

Kolesnik also said Melnik’s appeal showed Kiev was now giving instructions to the West, creating the impression that Western countries were already following Ukraine’s lead. In his view, they had not noticed how they had ended up serving Kiev’s agenda.

Moscow has repeatedly stressed that Russia has no plans to attack NATO countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said Western politicians use talk of a «Russian threat» to frighten their own populations and divert attention from domestic problems. According to him, such claims have no real basis and are primarily used to intensify anti-Russian rhetoric.