Lavrov Says Russia Will Push Ukrainian 'Nazis' Further Back If Wests Sends Long-Range Arms

Russia will push Ukrainian troops further away from its borders in response to the West supplying longer-range missile systems to Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2022) Russia will push Ukrainian troops further away from its borders in response to the West supplying longer-range missile systems to Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

Last week. US President Joe Biden announced a new military assistance package for Ukraine that includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), a decision dictated by the conflict turning into "an artillery duel," as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl put it. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the same day that Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured Washington that Kiev will not use the long-range rocket systems to strike Russian territory.

"The longer the range of the systems supplied to the Kiev regime is, the further we will push the Nazis away from the line where the threat to the Russian population of Ukraine and the Russian Federation comes from," Lavrov told reporters.

The foreign minister also doubted Zelenskyy's assurances that Kiev will not use long-range missiles to target Russian regions, noting that "in Ukraine politicians and members of parliament just laugh at the Americans who said that they believe Zelenskyy.

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On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian air defense systems are "cracking like nuts" new Western weapons supplied to Ukraine with dozens of units already destroyed. Moscow will also reconsider its decision to refrain from striking "those objects that have not been hit yet," the president said.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger. In response, the United States and its allies launched comprehensive sanctions against Russia and boosted military assistance for Ukraine, including by supplying it with lethal weapons.