By Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON – Russia has urged the United States not to send more arms to Ukraine and warned that large Western arms shipments would fuel the conflict and lead to more casualties, Moscow’s ambassador in Washington has said.
Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine killed thousands, displaced millions more and raised fears of a major confrontation between Russia and the United States — by far the world’s largest nuclear powers.
The United States has ruled out sending its own or NATO forces to Ukraine, but Washington and its European allies have supplied Kyiv with weapons including drones, heavy howitzer artillery, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, said such arms shipments are aimed at weakening Russia but would escalate the conflict in Ukraine while undermining efforts to reach some sort of peace deal.
“The Americans are pouring fuel on the fire,” Antonov told the TV channel Rossiya 24. “I only see an attempt to raise the stakes, make the situation worse, see more casualties.”
Antonov, who has served as ambassador to Washington since 2017, said an official diplomatic note had been sent to Washington expressing Russia’s concerns. There was no reply, Antonov said.
“We have stressed the unacceptability of this situation when the United States is throwing arms into Ukraine and we have demanded an end to this practice,” Antonov said. The interview was repeated on Russian state television throughout Monday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv on Sunday.
They informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that more than $322 million in new military funding had been provided to Ukraine, bringing total U.S. security assistance to about $3.7 billion since the invasion, a U.S. official said Official.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday pledged $800 million more in weapons for Ukraine and said he would ask Congress for more money to bolster support for Ukraine’s military.
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President Vladimir Putin says the “special military operation” in Ukraine is necessary because the United States is using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow needs to defend itself against the persecution of Russian speakers.
Putin, who says Ukraine and Russia are essentially one people, portrays the war as an inevitable confrontation with the United States, which he accuses of threatening Russia by meddling in its backyard and expanding the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine says it is fighting imperial-style land grabs and that Putin’s claims of genocide are nonsense. Zelenskyy has asked US and European leaders to supply Kyiv with heavier weapons and equipment.
Putin warned in February that there would be no winners in a conflict between NATO and Russia, which has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear warheads.
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)