Russian state TV host Vladimir Solovyov has threatened the UK with "asymmetric" retaliation, accusing Britain of supplying weapons used in strikes deep inside Russian territory. The remarks were made during a joint appearance with war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny on Russian state television.
Threats against British factories
Solovyov, a longstanding mouthpiece for the Putin regime, said: "Right now, strikes deep inside Russia are being carried out with British weapons, yet we are not destroying British factories. This is classic Anglo-Saxon warfare. We must understand who we are fighting and respond asymmetrically."
The presenter framed any pause in fighting as a betrayal of Russia's wartime dead. Quoting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Solovyov insisted that stopping at the current line of contact would "erase the sacrifice of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who defeated Nazism."
Calls for destruction of Ukrainian cities
He called for the continued destruction of "the military infrastructure of the Ukrainian Nazi regime and their sponsors and accomplices, wherever they may be located," explicitly invoking the ruthless tactics of Soviet-era spy Pavel Sudoplatov.
Poddubny, reporting from the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, described repeated air-raid alerts in the Russian town of Shebekino and demanded relentless bombardment of Ukrainian targets. He declared: "Everything over there should burn every single day! Mykolaiv must burn, and Kharkiv and Sumy must be wiped off the face of the earth!" He rejected negotiations, arguing that the West's goal was the "strategic defeat" and "destruction of Russia."
Celebration of European factory fires
The pair also celebrated reported fires at European defence plants. Poddubny noted problems with "fire safety" in Italy and Bulgaria and said the more such incidents, the better. Solovyov agreed, remarking: "A large number of factories over there might catch fire unexpectedly," sarcastically blaming hot weather, old wiring and underinvestment.
Both men criticised Russia's own lack of preparedness, complaining about unprotected petrol stations, continuing professional football matches and what they portrayed as a peacetime mindset among officials. Poddubny insisted there was no longer any safe rear area and that the country must accept decades of conflict.
Context and response
Solovyov and Poddubny are regular fixtures on Russian state media, where extreme rhetoric against Ukraine and the West is commonplace. Solovyov has previously called for nuclear strikes and the erasure of Ukrainian cities. Their latest broadcast continues a pattern of escalating threats directed at NATO members while Ukrainian forces, armed with Western systems including British weapons, continue to strike targets inside Russia.
The comments come amid ongoing cross-border attacks and Ukrainian long-range operations that have hit airbases, oil facilities and military sites deep inside Russian territory. Moscow has repeatedly accused Britain of direct involvement in the war while insisting its own campaign is limited to "demilitarisation" of Ukraine. Western governments have dismissed such threats as propaganda designed to intimidate and divide public opinion.
