Sweden will not be intimidated by Russian provocations, Defense Secretary Paul Johnson said Friday, after President Vladimir Putin signaled attacks on Western countries supplying arms to Ukraine.

The Swedish minister’s comments came as he announced “substantial funds” for Ukraine to purchase long-range missiles and drones.

“The Russian escalation and provocation that we’ve been noticing lately is an attempt to intimidate us into supporting Ukraine, and It’s going to fail, it’s not going to happen.” .

“Supporting Ukraine is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do, and it’s an investment in our own security, because (Ukraine’s) security is our security,” he said.

“Ukraine has the full right to self-defense, both inside and outside its territory, in accordance with international law, and we are happy if we can continue to develop your long-range missiles and long-range drones. can further develop the capability,” Johnson told Umarov.

Putin said on Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine had the characteristics of a “global” war, criticizing Ukraine’s allies for allowing Kiev to use Western-supplied weapons to hit targets on Russian soil.

In recent days, Ukraine fired US- and UK-supplied missiles into Russian territory for the first time, raising tensions in the nearly three-year-old conflict.

“We have the right to use our weapons against the military installations of countries that allow their weapons to be used against our installations,” Putin said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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