First Published Apr 26, 2022, 4:06 PM IST
U.S.Two months after the Crine invasion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that the Ukraine conflict could escalate into a third world war. Sergei Lavrov also accused NATO of engaging in a “shadow war” with Russia by supplying arms to Ukraine. In his lengthy interview, which aired on state television on Monday, he said the risk of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated. Russia’s interview came hours after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Kiev and offered more military assistance to Ukraine. This raised fears that what the Western nations feared at the beginning of the Russian occupation would happen. However he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Ukraine, and said that the decision was a signal of a formal antitrust inquiry into Russia.
During his visit to Ukraine, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the U.S. wanted to see Russia weaken and that it would help Ukraine win against Moscow.
The U.S. is reportedly set to host a conference of more than 40 countries this week on defense talks against Russia over Ukraine. The U.S. aims to bring more weapons to Ukraine from around the world.
During the interview, Lavrov was asked about the importance of avoiding World War III and whether the current situation could be compared to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is the most fundamental value of the US-Soviet relationship. The principle of striving to prevent nuclear war at all costs. “This is our main position on which we are all based, but now the risks are very high,” Lavrov said.
“I do not want to artificially increase those risks, but many people want to. The danger is serious and real. We must not underestimate it,” Lavrov added.
Russia’s occupation of Ukraine was the largest attack on a European country since World War II in 1945. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed in a two-month Russian offensive in Ukraine. Twice as many were injured.
Today, all of Ukraine’s cities and towns have been reduced to rubble. About 90 percent of buildings in Ukraine were partially or completely destroyed. More than 5 million people have fled the country.
Russia is not ready to call the war against Ukraine a ‘war’. Instead, Russia calls the war a “special military operation” against the neo-Nazi forces of the Ukrainian army. But the U.S., Ukraine and other European countries say Putin’s plot to attack Kiev.
At the outset of the war, Putin was reported to have alerted the country’s nuclear defense forces, citing “aggressive statements” from the West against Russia’s war effort.
In a recent interview, Lavrov justified Russia’s actions by blaming the US. Lavrov reiterated that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russians in the Donbass region and that it was Russia’s responsibility to protect them.
He also accused Western nations, including the United States, of supplying Ukraine with sophisticated weapons, including anti-javelin anti-tank missiles, armored vehicles and advanced drones, for war and taking provocative measures aimed at prolonging the conflict instead of ending it.
“These weapons will be a legitimate target of the Russian military in the context of a special military operation.” Lavrov added. “Russia has repeatedly targeted arms stores in western Ukraine. How else?” He added. “NATO is waging a shadow war against Russia. War is war. ”
Kiev’s rulers are not negotiating in good faith. He also accused former serial actor Volodymyr Selensky of being like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Lavrov said he was playing with the public instead of addressing the task.
They are similar in terms of ability to play in the gallery. For example, Lavrov said, they imitate the debate. Despite this, Moscow will continue to talk to the Ukrainian negotiating team, he said.
“In any case where the Armed Forces are used, they will all come to an end with a treaty, but the scales of this treaty will determine the stage at which the treaty becomes a reality.” Lavrov added.
The Financial Times reports that Putin has ruled out the possibility of signing a deal with Ukraine after the Russian Navy’s flagship warship Mosque sank in a Ukrainian missile attack on the Black Sea. The newspaper also reported that Putin is now preparing to seize as much Ukrainian land as possible.
Russia launched its war against Ukraine on February 24. Fifty-five days later, Russia withdrew its troops from the northwestern region of Ukraine. Russia has said the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is not its target.
On the contrary, Russia has accused Ukraine of committing genocide against security forces in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Russia has claimed responsibility for the killings, saying that Russia was responsible for the security of the world’s children.
Russia has stepped up rocket, motor and air strikes in eastern Ukraine. Two months after the start of the war, Russia claimed victory over Mariupol last week. However, Ukraine retaliated by saying that Mariupol had not surrendered and that the fighting was heading north.
About 2,000 Ukrainian troops (Azov battalion) took refuge in the Azov plant, the largest steel plant in the Donbass region. The Donbass has been a war zone since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.
There were reports that such a long war had turned the region into a guerrilla war front. The battlefield is rich in intricate trenches and moats. So Ukraine claimed that guerrilla warfare would break out from here.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has said that Lavrov’s warnings about a nuclear conflict “mean the defeat of Moscow.” At the same time, he appealed to Western nations to continue their aid to Kiev.
“Russia has lost its last hope of intimidating the world by supporting Ukraine,” Culeba tweeted. “Russia is concerned about a ‘real’ danger of World War III.
This means that Russia is losing in Ukraine. Therefore, it is essential that we succeed for European and global security. He wrote that the world should double its support for Ukraine.