US using Ukraine as ‘iron baton’ – Moscow
The US has no plans to push for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict, and is instead using Kiev as a weapon against Russia to achieve its own goals, Moscow’s ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, claimed on Tuesday.
In a statement on Telegram, the envoy warned Washington is “being deeper and deeper dragged into the abyss of the Ukrainian crisis,” after the US unveiled its latest security assistance package to Kiev worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Antonov accused the US of pushing the situation in Ukraine to “an even greater tragedy” while pressuring dozens of other countries to supply Kiev with weapons in a bid to inflict “a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield.”
The US is demanding “a result from neo-Nazis – to break through the Russian positions,” no matter the cost, Antonov said. The envoy also suggested that the White House was keen to demonstrate “success” in the fight against Russia in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
“Americans are not ready to stop at anything. They are not interested in negotiated solutions. Nobody is bothered about the fate of Ukraine, which is used only as an iron baton against Russia.”
However, the ambassador insisted that Western weapons would not turn the tide of the conflict, warning that the arms “will again be turned into a pile of twisted metal.”
On Tuesday, the administration of US President Joe Biden unveiled a new $325 million military assistance package, bringing the total value of security assistance provided to Kiev since the start of the conflict in February 2022 to more than $40 billion. As part of the measure, the US has committed to supply Ukraine with additional rocket and artillery munitions, Stinger anti-aircraft systems, and two-dozen armored vehicles.
The announcement came after Ukraine launched its long-expected counteroffensive against Russia. Kiev’s troops have thus far failed to gain any ground and have suffered heavy losses, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
