A former senior Russian army officer has branded a US decision to send advanced rocket launchers to Ukraine an act of war.

Retired lieutenant general Evgeny Buzhinsky, 72, said the moves means ‘the Americans are at war with us, and we will be striking decision-making centres’.

The former military leader, who served in the army before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, made the comments to state-run TV channel Rossiya 1, one of the Kremlin’s main propaganda mouthpieces.

He said: ‘When Putin was talking about decision-making centres, it was about nuclear weapons, not about multiple rocket launchers.

‘However, if these systems do appear, it will already be a different level…it will no longer be a special operation, but a normal war.

‘Then it should be necessary to act like in a normal war and strike decision-making centres.’

Joe Biden confirmed the US is supplying the army with a small number of medium range weapons as part of a new package of lethal aid.

The president publicly said he would not provide ‘rocket systems that can strike into Russia’ over fears it could contribute to a further escalation.

But despite US efforts to arm Ukraine without bringing the West closer to direct conflict with the Kremlin, hardliners are furious at the move.

He called for government and industrial sites in Ukraine to be hit, adding ‘yes, civilian infrastructure will be damaged’, which he falsely claimed Russian strikes have so far avoided.

The US planning is to send Ukraine the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which is mounted on a truck and can carry a container with six rockets.

The system can launch a medium-range rocket and, while it is also capable of firing a longer-range missile with a range of about 190 miles, it is not part of the plan.

Ukraine could use the rockets in the eastern Donbas region on Russia positions around towns and cities like Sievierodonetsk, whose capture is key to taking control of the whole region.

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Writing in the New York Times, Mr Biden said: ‘We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.’

But the Kremlin is furious at the decision to give a higher calbre of weapon to Ukrainian forces.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the US is ‘deliberately and diligently pouring fuel on the fire’.

Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba responded to the announcement on Twitter.

He wrote: ‘Grateful to the U.S. and personally to my friend [Anthony Blinken] for this important decision that we have all worked so intensively to make a reality. 

‘Advanced American systems will help our brave Armed Forces to defend Ukrainian land from Russian invaders.’

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