Putin unleashes furious response to West's decision to send Kyiv tanks as missiles rain hit Ukraine

A rattled Vladimir Putin has furiously retaliated over the West’s decision to supply dozens of high-tech tanks to Ukraine by slamming a barrage of missiles and drones into Kyiv.

An air raid alert was issued over the whole of Ukraine early this morning as defence units shot down a stream of incoming missiles, while fighting also flared up in Bakhmut after the deal which has been hailed as a potential game-changer.

Yesterday, after weeks of bitter infighting, the US and Germany finally agreed to give in to Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands and send 31 M1 Abrams tanks, 14 Leopard 2 tanks, and gives allies permission to send their own supply.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had feared the move risked massively escalating the war beyond the borders of Ukraine and the Kremlin has already issued threats to that effect.

And Putin has wasted no time in punishing Ukraine by blasting missiles overnight, after a period of relative calm.

‘The first Russian missiles have been shot down,’ Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office said.

Russia has targeted critical infrastructure with missile and drone strikes since October, causing sweeping blackouts and other outages during the bitter winter.

Despite the generous Western package, there are fears that Ukraine won’t be able to actually use the tanks on the front line for months, potentially after Russia’s anticipated spring offensive.

Source of data and images: dailymail