After Washington increased military assistance for Ukraine and welcomed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on an important visit, Moscow accused the United States of engaging in a proxy war against the country.
During his brief visit to Washington on Wednesday, officials greeted Zelenskyy with fanfare.
And US President Joe Biden pledged to give Kyiv $1.8 billion worth of military supplies, including the highly desired Patriot missile defense system.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that the latest US support package – which comes on top of the roughly $50 billion already sent to Ukraine this year – would not help end the more than 300-day-long conflict.
As Europe’s most significant land conflict since World War II drags on, Peskov told reporters that the US move hardly encourages a quick resolution.
The Russian official asserted that the contrary was true.
“This cannot prevent the Russian Federation from achieving its goals during the special military operation,” Peskov said, using Moscow’s term for its offensive.
Peskov added that there had been no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “listen to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskyy’s visit, proving that the US was intent on fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian.”
His remarks came as Russian news agencies reported that defence minister Sergei Shoigu had visited army units fighting in Ukraine.
However, the reports did not specify where the visit took place.
Headline stock photo courtesy Simon Infanger (Unsplash.com).
