Dmitry Medvedev has said that Russia must "mercilessly" respond to Ukraine's recent raid, adding that there will be "important political and legal" consequences to the operation.
"It is necessary to learn a serious lesson from what happened and fulfill what Chief of the General Staff V. Gerasimov promised the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - to mercilessly defeat and destroy the enemy," Medvedev wrote on Thursday morning.
Medvedev is the former president and prime minister of Russia, currently serving as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, and made the comments in a lengthy post on the social media platform Telegram.
His statements were in response to the Tuesday incursion by Ukrainian forces into the country's southwestern Kursk region.
"There is also another important political and legal consequence of what happened," Medvedev's post continued. "From this moment on, the [Special Military Operation] must acquire an openly extraterritorial character.
"This is no longer just an operation to return our official territories and punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odessa, to Kharkov, to Dnepropetrovsk, to Nikolaev. To Kyiv and further."
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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