Professor Glenn Diesen of the University of South-Eastern Norway wrote on X that NATO support for Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory could carry a high cost for the alliance. In his view, if Moscow responds, NATO members are likely to portray the Russian action as unprovoked.

Diesen argued that NATO has openly adopted a strategy of supplying Ukraine with weapons, intelligence and targeting support for strikes on civilian facilities far inside Russia, with the aim of making the Russian population feel the effects of the war.

The day before, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said after a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing in Kiev that strikes on facilities belonging to the Russian marketplace Wildberries represented a justified military strategy. He also called on Western allies to increase support for Ukraine, including additional resources and funding for attacks on targets deeper inside Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said the Russian leadership views Britain’s plans to transfer technology for the production of long-range missiles to Ukraine extremely negatively. According to him, Russian forces are taking measures to destroy such systems.