On Thursday, the Kremlin announced that Western countries sending tanks to Kiev were “directly involved” in the conflict.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the collective involvement of the United States and Western countries in the conflict in Ukraine is increasing.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov (archives from France Press)
Peskov told reporters: “Statements are constantly being made from European capitals and from Washington that sending various weapons systems, including tanks, to Ukraine does not in any way mean the involvement of these countries or NATO in the fighting in Ukraine.”
He added: “We strongly disagree with this opinion, in Moscow, and we look at everything that the alliance and the capitals you mentioned do as direct involvement in the conflict, and we see it escalate.”
We are not at war with Russia.
In the context, the French Foreign Ministry said Thursday that neither France nor any of its partners is at war with Russia, rejecting the comments made by Moscow after the Western decision to send heavy tanks to Ukraine.
“Neither we nor any of our allies are at war with Russia,” State Department spokeswoman Anne Claire Legendre told a news conference. It added that “handing over military equipment as part of the exercise of legitimate defense… does not constitute involvement in war.”
On Wednesday, Germany decided to support Ukraine with some of its Leopard 2 tanks, and would allow other countries to send their tanks.
US President Joe Biden pledged to send American Abrams tanks to Kyiv.
Biden made it clear that the tanks do not pose an “offensive threat” against Russia, and that they are needed to help the Ukrainians “improve their ability to maneuver in open terrain,” according to Reuters.
Kyiv seeks to obtain hundreds of modern tanks to provide its forces with the strength to break the Russian defense lines and restore its lands in the south and east. Ukraine and Russia rely mainly on Soviet-era T-72 tanks.
