On Wednesday, Russia condemned the United States’ (US) decision to send long-range rockets to Ukraine, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying, “It is a direct provocation [by Kyiv], aimed at involving the West in military action.” He added that only “sane Western politicians understand these risks.”
Lavrov emphasised that the Ukrainian government demanding advanced weapons systems from the West “goes beyond all the limits of decency and diplomatic communication.”
As directed by @POTUS, I am authorizing $700 million in additional U.S. arms, equipment, and supplies for Ukraine to reinforce its defenses against Russia’s senseless war of choice. We stand #UnitedwithUkraine.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 1, 2022
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced the 11th security assistance package for Ukraine worth $700 million to “provide timely and critical aid to the Ukrainian military.” The package includes four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), which can travel up to 70 kilometres. However, Biden made it clear that supplying arms to Kyiv did not mean that Washington desired a war between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Moscow, and added, “We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.”
In fact, Biden only stepped back from his earlier reluctance to send long-range weapons to Ukraine once Kyiv had provided assurances that the weapons would not be used to target Russian territory, which the US feared could lead to retaliation by Russia.
Long ago, 🇺🇦 not only renounced nuclear weapons, but also destroyed its missile capabilities in exchange for security guarantees. As a result: no weapons & no security. Given this, we have a moral right to ask for help. And we are grateful to our partners for having our back. 2/2
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) June 1, 2022
In fact, US Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl asserted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had assured them that “they’re not going to use these systems for striking Russian territory. And we trust the Ukrainians will live up to those assurances.” In fact, Zelensky told Newsmax, “We’re not interested in what is happening in Russia. We’re only interested in our own territory in Ukraine.”
Nevertheless, following the announcement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated, “We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire,” and clarified that Russia is evaluating the risk of missiles being fired into Russian territory. “Such supplies do not contribute to the Ukrainian leadership’s willingness to resume peace negotiations,” Peskov remarked.
Peskov remarked that going by history, Russia doesn’t “really have any trust credit for the Ukrainian side.” In a similar vein, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov admitted that they were “certainly picking up all of these signals,” but warned that flooding Ukraine with “uninterrupted and perpetual supplies of the newest weapons systems” would not deter Russia from fulfilling its objectives. Moreover, Ryabkov noted that Washington was intent on waging a war against Moscow “to the last Ukrainian in order to inflict, as they say, a strategic defeat on Russia.”
[LIVE]🎥 Watch #NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg's press conference with U.S. Secretary of State @SecBlinken 🇺🇸 at the @StateDept. https://t.co/taR1LhiNdj
— Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) June 1, 2022
That being said, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that he doesn’t think Russia would retaliate against the US for providing Ukraine with arms and ammunition. “No, I don’t foresee that because what NATO allies and NATO is doing is to provide support to Ukraine to uphold the right for self-defence, and this is a right which is enshrined in the United Nations (UN) treaty,” Stoltenberg said during a press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.
Furthermore, Blinken refuted all theories of escalation as he asserted that Putin was warned several times against invading Ukraine. “It is Russia that is attacking Ukraine, not the other way around. […] The best way to avoid escalation is for Russia to stop the aggression and the war that it started,” he noted.
3/3 Some political signals that President Biden gives in his @NYTimes article have already been interpreted by putin as a sign of insecurity about a wider conflict with russia. This can enhance russia's aggression against Ukraine even more.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 1, 2022
Blinken also admitted that they are looking at “many months of conflict.” To this end, he said the latest military assistance would help to “secure victories on the battlefield, and ultimately strengthen Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pledged to send the most advanced air defence system like the IRIS-T to Ukraine, which would help “to defend an entire city against Russian air attacks.”