Moscow’s ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said he has reason to believe that Washington will soon remove all restrictions on its donated weapons to Ukraine.
The Russian diplomat described as “goading” the continuing refusal of the US to permit Kyiv the use of American-made weapons for strikes deep into enemy territory.
He claimed that the US government is laying the ground for a decision to simply remove all the existing restrictions without much thought.
“The current administration behaves like a person who extends one hand and holds a dagger behind their back with another one,” Antonov said, referring to the government of President Joe Biden.
He also said a serious dialogue between the two military superpowers will only happen if Washington ends its “hostile policy” towards Russia, including its support for Ukraine and the sanctions it imposed against Moscow.
‘Critical for Ukraine’
Ukraine has long been calling on its allies to give carte blanche on the use of their donated weapons inside Russia.
Though most have heeded the plea, Washington remains reluctant to allow greater use of the weapons it supplied due to concerns that doing so would only escalate the conflict.
The US temporarily eased restrictions in May, but only to defend the under-fire Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said it is critical for Kyiv to be given greater freedom in the use of Western weapons to destroy military targets deeper inside Russia.
“It is equally important to be able to destroy military targets in Russia’s rear with Western long-range weapons. This is perhaps the only way to protect our people from glide bombs and other destructive airstrikes,” he explained.
Ukraine’s forces are now in the third week of their surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
