The Russian ambassador warned that the US and the West are aggravating the conflict in Ukraine by shipping more weapons to Kiev.
"Almost every day we see reports from the capitals of Western countries about new shipments, including various weapons, to Kiev," Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said at the United Nations Security Council meeting on March 17.
"Most recently, yesterday, Washington said it would provide $1 billion in defense aid to Ukraine as soon as this week. They are adding fuel to the fire," warned Mr. Nebenzya.
"We regret that Ukraine continues to become a 'pawn' in the geopolitical struggle with Russia," the Russian diplomat added.
The US and Western countries were initially quite cautious when only providing simple weapons and equipment such as helmets and bulletproof vests to Ukraine. However, currently, in the arms shipments to Ukraine, there are also drones capable of destroying Russian tanks and artillery at a distance of tens of kilometers.
When announcing the additional security aid package for Ukraine on March 16, President Joe Biden announced that the international community was focusing all efforts on supporting Ukraine and forcing Russia to "pay a heavy price" for the campaign. country's military.
"The new aid package will provide unprecedented support to Ukraine, including 800 air defense systems to ensure the Ukrainian military can continue to intercept attacking planes and protect Ukrainian airspace," he said. Biden said.
According to US officials, the country's additional military aid package to Ukraine includes anti-tank missiles and many other defensive weapons that the US has provided, including Javelin anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles. Stinger.
The new US aid package also includes 9,000 anti-tank systems. These are high-precision mobile man-portable missiles that Ukrainian forces are using against Russian tanks and armored vehicles. There are also 7,000 small arms, machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers to equip Ukraine.
Bloomberg on March 16, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that among the weapons that the US is about to provide Ukraine, there are 100 Switchblade unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as "suicide killers". Sources revealed that the US military for many years has quietly used suicide drones in targeted search and destruction operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
Russia has repeatedly criticized the US and its allies' aid to Ukraine with weapons as a dangerous act to escalate the situation, and warned that convoys carrying foreign weapons to Kiev could become "legitimate targets". " of Russian forces.
Aleksey Danilov, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that if Russia attacked a vehicle carrying Western weapons to Ukraine, NATO would consider this as a reason to activate Article 5 of the treaty. conventions of the union protect members. Article 5 provides for "collective defense", meaning that an attack on one member of the alliance will be treated as an attack on the entire alliance.
See more:
Comments
Post a Comment