Fri 20 January 2023:
Russia has warned of a “extremely dangerous” escalation if NATO sends heavy weapons to Ukraine, such as battle tanks and long-range missile systems.
The Kremlin issued the warning ahead of a key donor meeting on Thursday, as Western countries consider sending more powerful military equipment to Ukraine, where Russian forces are intensifying attacks to secure territory.
German officials have been under increasing pressure to send tanks to Kiev, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed dissatisfaction about the lack of access to heavy weapons.
Berlin has come under increasing pressure to provide its Leopard 2 tanks or at the very least open the way for others, including Poland, to transfer the German-made equipment from their own stock after the United Kingdom stated last week that it will send Challenger 2 tanks.
The Kremlin pushed the West to refrain from supplying Ukraine with powerful weaponry that could attack Russian military and territory.
“Potentially, this is extremely dangerous. It will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
‘We will destroy it’
On Friday, the United States will gather its allies at its airbase in Ramstein, Germany for a new round of talks on backing Ukraine militarily.
US defence chief Lloyd Austin will host the coordination meeting. He said “we’ll renew our united commitment to support Ukraine’s self-defence for the long haul” – but did not mention specific new equipment.
Western partners fear Ukraine could use long-range weapons to hit deep inside Russian territory or Crimea – a peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014 – despite Kyiv promising it would not do so.
Peskov spoke after Moscow’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said Russia would retaliate if Ukraine uses Western-supplied weapons to target Russia or the Crimea Peninsula.
“It should become obvious to everyone: No matter what weapons the Americans or NATO supply to the Zelenskyy regime, we will destroy it,” Antonov said. “It is simply impossible to defeat Russia.”
US rhetoric over Ukraine was becoming “more and more belligerent”, he added.
By insisting Crimea is part of Ukraine and saying Kyiv can use US weapons to protect its territory, Washington “is essentially pushing the Kyiv regime to commit terror acts in Russia”, said Antonov.
Separately, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that the West’s continued support for Ukraine could lead to nuclear war.
“A nuclear power losing in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war,” Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Nuclear powers have not lost major conflicts on which their fate depends.”
Peskov said Medvedev’s comments were in line with Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
‘We can manage risk’
The commander-in-chief of NATO forces in Europe said the risk of the war in Ukraine escalating due to deliveries of Western battle tanks was manageable.
“Can we manage risk? Yes, absolutely. I believe we can manage risk in general,” US General Christopher Cavoli told reporters on Thursday in Brussels after a NATO Military Committee meeting.
Rob Bauer, chair of the NATO Military Committee, underscored the importance of supplying Ukraine with tanks.
“The Russians are fighting with tanks so the Ukrainians need tanks as well,” he said. “In terms of matching what the enemy has, it is important for the Ukrainians, and in terms of their ambition to regain their own territory.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
