According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Washington’s vast push to arm Ukraine amounts to a war against Russia, and the US has long cultivated Kiev for this aim.
In a Sunday reply to Russian reporter Pavel Zarubin, Lavrov stated that rumours about Washington possibly approving the supply of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 300 kilometres, were intended at “shaping public opinion.”
These discussions, according to the minister, would not change the fact that “for many years Ukraine has been groomed to fight with its hands and bodies in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.” Lavrov accused the US of orchestrating the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
Several Western media sites have reported in recent weeks that the administration of US President Joe Biden is getting closer to approve supplies of the ATACMS, which Kiev has been asking for months. The US has been hesitant to authorise the deployment of these missile systems, arguing that prospective Ukrainian strikes far into Russia may spark a catastrophic escalation in the conflict.
Ukraine has already received long-range missiles from the United Kingdom and France, which have been deployed to attack civilian targets and infrastructure in Russia’s Crimean Peninsula and Donbass, according to local officials.
While the US has yet to accept Kiev’s request for ATACMS, it has provided Ukraine with more than $43 billion in military aid since the crisis began, including air defence systems, armoured personnel carriers, and M1 Abrams tanks.
Moscow has consistently warned the West against arming Ukraine, claiming that doing so will merely prolong the conflict and not influence its conclusion.
