Russia sent an official diplomatic note to the United States this week warns that US and NATO supplies of Ukraine’s “most sensitive” weapons systems “add fuel to the fire” of the conflict there and could lead to “unpredictable consequences”writes the American newspaper The Washington Post.
The diplomatic démarche, a copy of which was seen in the newspaper, comes amid a decision by US President Joe Biden to approve a dramatic expansion in the range of weapons provided to Ukraine. a $ 800 million packageincluding 155 mm howitzers – a major upgrade of long-range artillery to match Russian systems – coastal defense drones and armored vehicles, as well as additional portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and millions of rounds.
The United States has also facilitated the supply of long-range air defense systems to Ukraine, including the shipment of Slovakia to Soviet S-300 launchers, with which the Ukrainian military already knows how to work. In return, the US administration announced last week that US Patriot systems are deployed in the country and their long-term provision will be considered.
The arms deliveries, the first wave of which U.S. officials say will arrive in Ukraine in a few days, come after an urgent call to Biden by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said Russian forces mobilize for major attack on Donbass region in eastern Ukraine and along the coastline connecting it with the Russian-occupied Crimea to the south. Russian troops are largely withdrawing from the north, including around the capital Kyiv, after “humiliating defeats by Ukrainian military and local resistance forces,” according to the newspaper.
The war is not for Donbass, but against the United States – admitted Sergei Lavrov
The goal is, in fact, “to put an end to the reckless domination of the United States and other Western nations.”
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“What the Russians are telling us in private is exactly what we are telling the world in public – that the huge help we are giving to our Ukrainian partners is proving to be extremely effective,” said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. sensitive diplomatic document.
The State Department declined to comment on the contents of the two-page diplomatic note or any US response.
Experts on Russia suggest that Moscow, which is identified the arms convoys entering the country as legitimate military targets, but so far she has not attacked them, she may be preparing to do so.
“Russia is targeting arms depots in Ukraine itself, where some of these supplies have been stored,” said George Beeby, a former CIA director of Russia analysis and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s adviser on Russia. “The real question is whether they will go beyond attempts to attack (arms supplies) on Ukrainian territory, or try to defeat the convoys themselves, perhaps in NATO countries on the Ukrainian periphery,” which serve as transfer points for US supplies.
If Russian forces “stumble” in the next phase of the war, as in the first, “then I think the chances of Russia attacking arms supplies to NATO are greatly increased,” Beeby said. “There was speculation on the part of many of us in the West that we could supply Ukrainians indeed without restrictions and not take a significant risk of retaliation from Russia.“I think the Russians want to send a message here,” he said. that this is not true.
The diplomatic note dates back to Tuesday after information leaked for the first time about a new package of weapons that led to $ 3.2 billion in total US military aid to Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. In a public statement Wednesday, Biden said the supplies would include “new capabilities in line with the wider attack we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine.”
Among the items identified by Russia as “most sensitive” are “volley fire missile systems”, although it is believed that the United States and its NATO allies did not supply such weapons to Ukraine. Russia has accused the United States and its allies of violating “strict principles” governing the transfer of weapons to conflict zones, and of ignoring “the threat of high-precision weapons falling into the hands of radical nationalists, extremists and gangs in Ukraine.”
Moscow accuses NATO of trying to pressure Ukraine to “give up” the already unsuccessful talks with Russia, “to continue the bloodshed”. Washington, according to Russia, is pressuring other countries to suspend all military and technical cooperation with Russia, and those with Soviet-era weapons to transfer them to Ukraine.
Updated
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“We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which has unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,” the note said.
Andrew Weiss, former Director of the National Security Council for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia and now Vice President for Research at Carnegie Endowment for International Peacerecalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a speech on the morning of the invasion, warned that western nations would face “consequences greater than any in history” if they became involved in the conflict.
At the time, the focus was on reminding Putin that Russia has a powerful nuclear arsenal, Weiss said, but it was also a “very explicit warning not to send weapons into a conflict zone.” After drawing a red line, he wondered if the Russians “are now willing to support this?”
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Dmitry Peskov told CNN: Putin has not achieved his goals and it is not that there is no nuclear button
He declined to deny that Moscow did not consider using nuclear weapons
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Such an attack would be “a very important escalation move, primarily because it poses a threat to the West if they are unable to continue supplies to Ukraine, which in turn could reduce Ukraine’s capacity for self-defense.” That risk “should not be underestimated,” he said, noting the additional risk of a convoy attempt in Ukraine to go awry over NATO’s border.
Senior U.S. defense officials remain concerned about the possibility of such attacks. “We do not take any movement of weapons and systems entering Ukraine for granted,” Kirby said on Thursday. “Not on a given day.”
He explained that only Ukrainian troops import weapons into Ukraine after the United States delivers them to the region, and “the less we say about it, the better.”
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The Russian army also turned its attention to Lviv
An air raid has also been declared in Kyiv
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