(OPINION) A close ally of Vladimir Putin has warned that the Kremlin could target western cities if Ukraine uses rockets supplied by the US to carry out strikes on Russia. President Joe Biden announced this week that his administration was sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, backtracking on an earlier statement that the US would not be giving the war-torn country advanced weaponry.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former prime minister under Putin and current chairman of the national security council, warned there would be consequences if these were used on Russian soil. He told Al Jazeera: ‘If, God forbid, these weapons are used against Russian territory then our armed forces will have no other choice but to strike decision-making centers.

‘Of course, it needs to be understood that the final decision-making centers in this case, unfortunately, are not located on the territory of Kyiv.’ He also warned that fighting in Ukraine was pushing the world dangerously close to nuclear Armageddon ‘The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are already on their way and all hope now is with Lord God the Almighty,’ he said.

Kremlin-controlled state TV has said on a number of occasions that the war in Ukraine could turn nuclear, with attacks on the UK and the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is losing up to 100 soldiers a day during Russia’s invasion of the country.

In an interview with Newsmax in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said the situation elsewhere in the country is “difficult.” ‘The most difficult situation is in the east of Ukraine, in Severodonetsk, in Lysychansk,” he said. “This is the names of cities in the regions in the east of Ukraine, and the situation in the east of Ukraine is very difficult.”

Severodonetsk and Lysychansk are the most eastern cities that Ukraine has been able to hold on to. Russia has concentrated its attack in the east after making slow progress in other parts of the country earlier in its invasion as Ukraine mounted strong resistance.

“We are losing 60 to 100 soldiers per day killed in action and something around 500 people as wounded in action,” Zelenskyy said. It is not clear if Zelenskyy was talking about troop losses across all of Ukraine or just in the east, though most fighting is now taking place in eastern Ukraine.

He added that Ukraine has launched a successful counterattack in Kharkiv, also a city in the east, and that Ukraine has almost reached 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from its border with Russia.