[Goose]

So Putin says if NATO-supplied MLRS systems hit Russian territory, Russia will hit the West.

This begs the question, what defines Russian territory? Does it include Russian occupied territory and Crimea, or pre 2014 map of Russia?

Yeah I've been wondering that as well. I believe from the US and Ukrainian point of view, those territories will be fair game.  Russia will specifically consider Crimea to be sovereign Russian territory. I don't think Russia will be stupid enough to attempt to attack the west, but if Ukraine does start to mount an offensive against Crimea, then maybe Putin will need to attack a NATO country, to claim he didn't lose to Ukraine, but all of the west combined.  That being said, if it gets to that point, I wonder if Putin will still be in power. A lot of guess work in all of this of course, but Crimea is going to be a very tricky situation no matter what.

This is not just an academic question either. Even if Ukraine doesn't ultimately have the intention of taking back Crimea, taking back Kherson Oblast would undoubtedly draw artillery fire from Crimea. https://www.yahoo.com/news/frightened-oc...19830.html. Those 210 mm guns aren't there to fire at local insurgents. There are more in Crimea. Is Ukraine just expected to accept that without attempting to suppress said artillery? Along those same lines, assume Ukraine is approaching the Russian border (which they have done in Kharkiv Oblast). What if Russia fires artillery from inside Russia proper? Can Ukraine reply using Soviet era guns but not M777? 152 mm shells are OK but 155 are not? Grads are fine but HIMARS isn't? Tricky is right.

[Goose]

So Putin says if NATO-supplied MLRS systems hit Russian territory, Russia will hit the West.

This begs the question, what defines Russian territory? Does it include Russian occupied territory and Crimea, or pre 2014 map of Russia?

Yeah I've been wondering that as well. I believe from the US and Ukrainian point of view, those territories will be fair game.  Russia will specifically consider Crimea to be sovereign Russian territory. I don't think Russia will be stupid enough to attempt to attack the west, but if Ukraine does start to mount an offensive against Crimea, then maybe Putin will need to attack a NATO country, to claim he didn't lose to Ukraine, but all of the west combined.  That being said, if it gets to that point, I wonder if Putin will still be in power. A lot of guess work in all of this of course, but Crimea is going to be a very tricky situation no matter what.

This is not just an academic question either. Even if Ukraine doesn't ultimately have the intention of taking back Crimea, taking back Kherson Oblast would undoubtedly draw artillery fire from Crimea. https://www.yahoo.com/news/frightened-oc...19830.html. Those 210 mm guns aren't there to fire at local insurgents. There are more in Crimea. Is Ukraine just expected to accept that without attempting to suppress said artillery? Along those same lines, assume Ukraine is approaching the Russian border (which they have done in Kharkiv Oblast). What if Russia fires artillery from inside Russia proper? Can Ukraine reply using Soviet era guns but not M777? 152 mm shells are OK but 155 are not? Grads are fine but HIMARS isn't? Tricky is right.