Antonov said all the statements and declarations made during Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the United States only further prove that Joe Biden’s administration is not interested in a peaceful settlement.
Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, has accused Washington of waging a “proxy war” against Moscow.
Antonov said all the statements and declarations made during Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the United States only further prove that Joe Biden’s administration is not interested in a peaceful settlement.
“The Hollywood-style trip to Washington by the head of the Kiev regime has confirmed that the administration’s conciliatory statements about the lack of intention to start a confrontation with Russia are just empty words,” Antonov said, according to a transcript of his response to a journalist published by the Russian Embassy in Washington on Wednesday night.
RT reports that Washington is throwing all its colossal resources, weapons, and intelligence capabilities at Kiev in pursuit of the “manic idea of defeating the Russians on the battlefield,” Antonov said.
The ambassador specifically noted the US pledge to supply Kiev with Patriot air defense missiles, warning that such weapons and their crews would be legitimate targets for the Russian military. He also slammed the growing speculation about deliveries of ATACMS missiles and long-range attack drones.
“What was essentially announced to applause and sarcastic smirks, was the need to continue the ‘proxy war’ against our country. Until a complete victory over us,” he added.
Reuters reports that the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, had while responding to reporters, said that there had been no signs of readiness for peace talks during Mr Zelensky’s visit, and that this was evidence that the United States was fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”, adding that the Ukrainian president and his US counterpart Joe Biden were refusing to hear “Russia’s concerns”.
“We can say with regret that so far neither President (Joe) Biden nor President Zelensky have said even a few words that could be perceived as potential readiness to listen to Russia’s concerns,” said Mr Peskov.
“Not a single word was heard warning Zelensky against the continued shelling of residential buildings in towns and villages in Donbas and there were no real calls for peace.”
“This suggests that the United States is continuing its line of de facto fighting an indirect war with Russia to the last Ukrainian,” he added.
Hours before Mr Zelensky’s visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would next year continue developing its military potential and the combat readiness of its nuclear forces.
Moscow has repeatedly tried to “appeal to common sense at all levels,” the diplomat said, stressing that shipments of increasingly modern and long-range weapons and other provocative actions by the US and its allies are leading to an escalation, with consequences “impossible to even imagine.”