Russia does not expect anything good to follow the visit of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington and sees no possibility of peace talks with Kiev, Reuters reports.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned of continued supplies of weapons from the West to Ukraine will lead to a “deepening” of the conflict – something that could backfire on Kiev.
“Weapons deliveries continue and the range of weapons sent expands. All of this, of course, leads to an escalation of the conflict. This does not bode well for Ukraine“, he was emphatic.
Zelensky is expected to meet US President Joe Biden and congressional leaders today in his first foreign visit since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24.
When asked if Moscow had any expectation that anything positive could come of Zelensky’s trip, Peskov replied succinctly: “No.”
During the visit of the Ukrainian leader, the United States is expected to approve the delivery of the modern air defense systems “Patriot” as part of the latest multibillion-dollar military support package for Kiev.
Until recently The United States has refrained from sending Patriot air defense systems to Ukraineas they feared an escalation of the conflict on the one hand and due to the complexity of training to work with them.
A change in the situation occurred after that Germany has decided to supply Poland with such systems after the incident in which a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile went down in Poland and killed two workers at a drying mill near the Ukrainian border.
Russia, for its part, has already warned that sending Patriot systems to Ukraine would be a new level of escalation and threatened to use ICBMs in response.
