13 Mar, 2024 08:23
Russia accuses US of ‘direct involvement’ in Ukraine conflict
CIA Director William Burns said previously that more funding for Kiev would allow it to conduct ‘deep penetration strikes’ in the peninsula
The US is aggravating the Ukraine conflict by continuing to support Kiev financially and suggesting a course of action on the ground, the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has said.
Washington’s rhetoric about the need to pour more money into Kiev to help it attack Crimea signals America’s direct participation, Antonov told reporters on Wednesday in response to an earlier statement by CIA Director William Burns.
Additional funds would allow Ukraine to conduct more “deep penetration strikes in Crimea,” continue targeting the Russian Black Sea fleet and eventually “regain the offensive initiative,” Burns told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Monday.
“The situation has reached a point where some high-ranking [US] officials are saying: we need to help Ukrainians ‘strike deep in Crimea.’ In other words, the direct involvement of the United States in the conflict has been officially recognized,” Antonov stated.
Washington’s rhetoric about the need to pour more money into Kiev to help it attack Crimea signals America’s direct participation, Antonov told reporters on Wednesday in response to an earlier statement by CIA Director William Burns.
Additional funds would allow Ukraine to conduct more “deep penetration strikes in Crimea,” continue targeting the Russian Black Sea fleet and eventually “regain the offensive initiative,” Burns told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Monday.
“The situation has reached a point where some high-ranking [US] officials are saying: we need to help Ukrainians ‘strike deep in Crimea.’ In other words, the direct involvement of the United States in the conflict has been officially recognized,” Antonov stated.
He went on to warn that the direct participation of Ukraine’s Western backers in the conflict is “a dangerous course, fraught with the most unpredictable consequences,” not only for the security of the US, but for the whole world.
The CIA director’s appeal came as the US is struggling to approve a new $60 billion aid package amid persistent complaints from Ukrainian authorities about a lack of munitions on the front lines. While that funding is stalled in Congress, the White House on Tuesday announced a smaller $300 million military aid injection for Kiev, the first this year.
According to Antonov, with this new package the US administration “confirmed the constancy of its disastrous course of prolonging the military conflict in Ukraine.” “The United States does not want to understand the simple truth that no American weapon will stop [Russia’s] special military operation… Its use will only lead to an increase in casualties among ordinary citizens of the post-Soviet republic,” he said.
Moscow has repeatedly said that it is open to peace negotiations to bring an end to the fighting and insisted that by funding Kiev’s war effort the West is eliminating the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough.
- However, the US and its NATO allies say that the only acceptable basis for peace talks is the formula put forward by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which requires the return of all former Ukrainian territories, the unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops and an international tribunal for Russian leaders.
- Moscow has refused to negotiate under such terms.
Russia calls U.S. military aid for Ukraine an "immediate threat"
"..."The supply of military products by the U.S. and its allies not only entails protracted bloodshed and new casualties, but also increases the danger of a direct military clash between Russia and Western countries," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on the Telegram messaging app.
"We call on Washington to stop its provocative actions that could lead to the most serious consequences."
. . .Putin signed laws Wednesday that were passed by Russia's rubber-stamp legislature, formally annexing four Ukrainian regions in the wake of "referendums" staged by Moscow in the areas.
- Those referendums were condemned by the international community as shams, with Ukraine, the head of the United Nations, the U.S. and many other countries dismissing the move as a blatantly illegal land grab.
- Despite the Kremlin's claims over the territory, Ukraine has recently taken back more and more ground in at least two of the regions over which Russia has declared dominion.
"They will be with Russia forever," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declared of the four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — as Putin signed the paperwork on Wednesday to formalize the annexation.
- Peskov insisted there was "no contradiction whatsoever" in Russia's leader claiming the territory even as Russian forces have been pushed back from lines they've held for months in south and east Ukraine.
Ukraine's military said Wednesday that it had retaken more villages in the southern Kherson region, and that Ukraine's national flag was again flying over seven villages recently clawed back from the occupying Russian forces, the Associated Press reported.
There were multiple explosions, meanwhile, in Bila Tserkva, a city 50 miles south of the capital Kyiv, on Wednesday.
There were multiple explosions, meanwhile, in Bila Tserkva, a city 50 miles south of the capital Kyiv, on Wednesday.
- A regional Ukrainian official said the blasts appeared to have been caused by suicide drones launched by Russian forces. Russia has reportedly used such Iranian-made drones in recent weeks.
- The explosive-laden drones can stay in the air for long periods of time before diving to hit targets and exploding at the last moment.
IN MAY 2022
May 14, 2022 at 1:28 PM
Russia’s Ambassador to U.S. Says Washington Increasingly Drawn Into Conflict
Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov (Valery Sharifulin/TASS/Zuma Press)
Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, said the war in Ukraine is increasingly drawing Washington into conflict with Moscow, calling the situation extremely dangerous.
- “The situation today, is extremely, extremely dangerous. The U.S. is being drawn deeper and deeper into conflict with the most unpredictable consequences for relations between the two nuclear powers,” Mr. Antonov said Saturday on Russian television.
The U.S. and its allies have been shipping large volumes of heavy weaponry to Ukraine, including more advanced Western systems to supplement the light weapons and Soviet-era arms that were funneled into Ukraine since before the invasion started.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said recently that the West was increasing the risk of a bigger conflict by providing arms to Ukraine.
Mr. Antonov’s remarks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin told Finnish President Sauli Niinistö that joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a move backed by the country’s leadership, would be a “mistake.”
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