The Russian authorities have warned that the continued supply of superior weapons to Ukraine by other countries for the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war would lead to global catastrophe and destruction.
Sources reports that the speaker of Russia’s parliament gave the warning on Sunday, saying that countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risked their own destruction.
The warning is a sequel to information that some countries or organisations including the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have pledged to supply armoured vehicles, air defence systems and other equipment to Ukraine instead of the battle tanks the country requested.
The State Duma Chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, was quoted as saying, “Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” adding that “If Washington and NATO supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making attempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”
Sources further reports that Ukraine’s supporters pledged billions of dollars in military aid to the war-torn country on Friday, though the new commitments were overshadowed by defence leaders failing at an international meeting in Ramstein, Germany, to agree on Ukraine’s urgent request for German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks.
According to the report, Germany is one of the main donors of weapons to Ukraine, and it ordered a review of its Leopard 2 stocks in preparation for a possible green light. Nonetheless, the government in Berlin has shown caution at each step of increasing its commitments to Ukraine, a hesitancy seen as rooted in its history and political culture.
Its tentativeness has drawn heavy criticism, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, countries on NATO’s eastern flank controlled by Moscow in the past and which feel especially threatened by Russia’s renewed imperial ambitions.
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, reportedly said that if Germany does not consent to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine, his country was prepared to build a “smaller coalition” of countries that would send theirs anyway.
Morawiecki, who reportedly spoke in an interview with Polish state news agency, PAP, published on Sunday said, “Almost a year had passed since the outbreak of war,” adding that “Evidence of the Russian army’s war crimes can be seen on television and on YouTube. What more does Germany need to open its eyes and start to act in line with the potential of the German state?
“Above all, Berlin should not weaken or sabotage the activities of other countries.”
It,s been reported that in Washington, two leading lawmakers urged the U.S. on Sunday to send some of its Abrams tanks to Ukraine in the interest of overcoming Germany’s reluctance to share its own more suitable Leopard 2 tanks.
The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, was quoted as telling ABC’s “This Week on Sunday” that “If we announced we were giving an Abrams tank, just one, that would unleash” the flow of tanks from Germany, as “What I hear is that Germany’s waiting on us to take the lead.”
Also, Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat who is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and considered close to President Joe Biden, spoke up for the U.S. sending Abrams, saying “I am concerned that Russia is rearming and preparing for a spring offensive.”
According to Coons, “If it requires our sending some Abrams tanks in order to unlock getting the Leopard tanks from Germany, from Poland, from other allies, I would support that.”
But the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said the meeting in Ramstein “left no doubt that our enemies will try to exhaust or better destroy us,” adding that “they have enough weapons” to achieve the purpose.
The former Russian president warned on his messaging app channel that Russia could seek to form a military alliance with foes of the United States.
But though Medvedev didn’t name the nations he had in mind, Russia reportedly has defence cooperation with Iran and Venezuela, an existing military alliance with Belarus and strong ties with North Korea. Since invading Ukraine, Russia also has increased both the scope and the number of its joint military drills with China.
