Russia warned the US to halt delivering more weaponry to Ukraine, saying that huge Western weapons deliveries were escalating the conflict and causing more casualties, according to Moscow’s ambassador to Washington.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions more, and sparked fears of a wider conflict between Russia and the United States, the world’s two most powerful nuclear powers.
Although the US has ruled out sending its own or NATO forces to Ukraine, it has provided Kyiv with weapons such as drones, Howitzer heavy artillery, anti-aircraft Stinger, and anti-tank Javelin missiles.
Such arms deliveries, according to Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, are aimed at weakening Russia, but they are increasing the war in Ukraine and undermining efforts to achieve a peace agreement.
“What the Americans are doing is putting more oil on the fire,” Antonov told Rossiya 24. “All I see is an attempt to raise the stakes, worsen the issue, and witness more losses,” says the author.
Antonov, who has been Russia’s ambassador to Washington since 2017, said an official diplomatic note conveying Russia’s concerns had been issued to Washington. Antonov stated that no response had been received.
On Sunday, US Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and Defense Lloyd Austin paid a visit to Kyiv.
According to a US official, they informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of more than $322 million in new military funding for Ukraine, bringing the total amount of US security support to Ukraine since the invasion to roughly $3.7 billion.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden committed $800 million in more armament for Ukraine and said he would seek Congress for extra funding to help the Ukrainian military.
President Vladimir Putin claims that the “special military operation” in Ukraine is required because the US is using Ukraine to threaten Russia, and Moscow must defend Russian-speaking citizens.
Putin, who claims that Ukraine and Russia are basically one people, portrays the conflict as an unavoidable clash with the US, which he accuses of menacing Russia by interfering in its domestic affairs and expanding the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine claims it is fighting an imperial land grab, and Putin’s claims of genocide are false. Zelensky has been asking the authorities in the United States and Europe to provide Kyiv with more powerful weapons and equipment.
Putin warned in February that a fight between NATO and Russia, which has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, would result in no winners.
