Russia has reiterated a warning that shipments of Nato weapons to Ukraine are ‘targets to be destroyed’.

It comes as the Kremlin said it had fired two Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukrainian positions from a submarine in the Black Sea.

The defence ministry published video footage of them being launched and said they had hit unspecified ground targets in Ukraine.

Earlier on Wednesday, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu reiterated that Russia would seek to destroy arms shipments to Ukraine from Western countries, which have stepped up in recent weeks.

Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped to blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the potentially decisive battle for the Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Moscow shifted its focus to the industrial region after failing to take Kyiv in the early weeks of the war.

Speaking at a news conference of defence ministry officials on day 70 of the conflict, he said: ‘The United States and its Nato allies are continuing to pump weapons into Ukraine.

‘We view any transport of the North Atlantic Alliance arriving on the territory of the country with weapons or materials destined to the Ukrainian army as a target to be destroyed.’

Russia’s defence ministry added that it had disabled six railway stations in Ukraine used to supply Ukrainian forces with weapons in the country’s east by bombing their power supplies.

It said they also hit 40 military targets including four depots storing ammunition and artillery.

The claim was not independently verified and the Kremlin did not say which Western-made weapons were supplied to Ukrainian forces via those stations.

Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov was shown at Shoigu’s side during the meeting of defence officials.

On Monday, the United States said it believed Gerasimov visited Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region last week but could not confirm media reports that he was wounded during fighting.

The flurry of attacks over the past day come as Russia prepares to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, marking the Soviet Union’s defeat over Nazi Germany.

This year, the world is watching for signs of whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will use the occasion to declare a limited victory – or expand what he calls a ‘special military operation’ to a wider war.

While the Russian attacks were across a wide swath of the country, some were concentrated in and around Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border that been gateway for Nato-supplied weapons.

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