Russia has warned it could strike British military targets both inside and outside Ukraine over the UK’s support for Kyiv.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman told Britain to back off on what she called London’s hostile stance on Ukraine, which she said risked taking the conflict to an entirely new level.
Maria Zakharova told the same Moscow news briefing earlier that Britain and France were “playing with fire” by supplying sensitive missile technology to Ukraine.
Britain announced on Monday it would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start its own production of Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, capable of carrying out strikes deep within Russia.
France has already given its assent to license the technology for the European missile.
That decision has drawn strong condemnation from Russia, with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it would add “fuel to the fire” of the conflict.
But Andy Burnham told reporters in Kyiv: “Who started the fire? That’s the question, isn’t it?”
It comes as tensions between the Kremlin and Downing Street continue to escalate, a week after Russia’s embassy in the UK said reports that Ukrainian forces had used unmanned aircraft manufactured by two UK companies “confirm that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis”.
It accused Britain of “seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy” and warned that the deeper its involvement becomes, “the higher the price it will pay”.
“London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,” it said.
But prime minister Andy Burnham hit back, saying Britain would not be deterred by the threats.
It comes after the prime minister visited Kyiv this week in his first trip abroad since entering Downing Street.
While in the capital, the UK reaffirmed its “unwavering” commitment to Ukraine, which in turn provided what officials described as a “goldmine” of combat data to enhance British security.
During his visit, the prime minister urged Ukraine’s allies to send more interceptor missiles to Kyiv as Ukraine struggles under continued Russian bombardment.
He co-chaired his first coalition of the willing meeting, where he said the group was doing “everything we can” to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks”.
Whilst he was visiting the country, Kremlin adviser Andrei Fedorov warned British factories manufacturing drones for Ukraine could face targeting by “unknown sources”.
The former deputy foreign minister for Russia, stated he could not “100% exclude” the possibility of “semi-military” operations directed at Britain.
Mr Fedorov told BBC Newsnight that “sooner or later, there might be not only verbal, but maybe some visible reaction from Russia towards the UK”.
Asked to elaborate, he said: “There are different discussions how it should look like – it might be so-called technical reaction, maybe some hackers attack from unknown source, not from official level of course.
“There might be different political steps and I cannot exclude 100 per cent that there might be some semi-military, for example.”
Pressed to define “semi-military” he said: “For example, something might happen with enterprises, with the factories which are producing drones for Ukraine, etc etc.”
Asked whether this meant British factories in Britain being attacked militarily by Russia, the adviser said: “They could be attacked, not by Russia, but by… from unknown sources.”
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