US decision to send ‘lethal weapons’ to Ukraine irks Russia
‘Americans directly pushing Ukrainian forces to war’
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW: Ukraine will soon have more lethal American-made weapons to help it fight Russian-backed separatists, US officials said. Russia said the decision was dangerous because it would encourage Kiev to use force in eastern Ukraine.
US officials said on Friday that the Trump administration approved a plan to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, in a long-awaited move that deepens America’s involvement in the military conflict and may further strain relations with Russia.
The US would provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities” as Kiev battles Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country, according to the US State Department.
Supplies of any weapons now encourage those who support the conflict in Ukraine to use the “force scenario,” Russia’s RIA state news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin as saying on Saturday. Franz Klintsevich, a member of the upper house of Parliament’s security committee, said Kiev would consider arms supplies as support of its actions, Interfax news agency reported.
“Americans, in fact, directly push Ukrainian forces to war,” Klintsevich said.
After Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine and Russia are at loggerheads over a war in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 10,000 people in three years.
Kiev accuses Moscow of sending troops and heavy weapons to the region, which Russia denies.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the US decision once again undermines Minsk agreements, TASS state news agency reported on Saturday.
Minsk agreements intended to end the fighting in Ukraine were signed by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in the Belarussian capital in early 2015.
The new arms include American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles that Ukraine has long sought to boost its defenses against Russian-backed separatists armed with tanks that have rolled through eastern Ukraine during violence that has killed more than 10,000 since 2014. Previously, the US has provided Ukraine with support equipment and training, and has let private companies sell some small arms like rifles.
The officials describing the plan were not authorized to discuss it publicly and demanded anonymity.
Trump had been considering the plan for some time after the State Department and the Pentagon signed off earlier this year. President Barack Obama also considered sending lethal weapons to Ukraine, but left office without doing so.