kyiv. The Russian government warned yesterday, April 25, of the “real” risk of a Third World War after senior US officials visited Ukraine and assured that it could win the conflict with the “proper equipment.”
Faced with the unprecedented sanctions against Moscow by Western countries and their growing military support for Ukraine, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, warned that “the danger (of a world war) is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated. “.
Lavrov also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “pretending” that he is negotiating. “He is a good actor (…), if he observes himself carefully and carefully reads what he says, thousands of contradictions will be found,” he indicated.
Several NATO countries have pledged in recent days to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons and equipment, despite protests from Moscow.
This growing support was evidenced by the visit to kyiv on Sunday by two top US officials, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met for three hours with Zelensky.
“The first thing to win is to believe that you can win. And they are convinced that they can win,” Austin told reporters after the game. “They can win if they have good equipment, the right support,” she added.
In an evening speech, President Zelensky considered that the Ukrainian victory was a matter of time and stated that “thanks to the courage” of his people, Ukraine “is a true symbol of the struggle for freedom.”
During the visit, Austin and Blinken announced an additional $700 million in military aid, bringing the total US contribution to $3.4 billion.
“We want to see Russia weakened to the point where it can’t do the kind of things it has done by invading Ukraine,” Austin said after returning to Poland yesterday.
Adding to this support, Britain will send a “small number” of Stormer anti-aircraft armored rocket launchers, the defense minister said.
new ambassador
The United States took advantage of the visit to Zelensky to announce the gradual reopening of its embassy in kyiv and the upcoming appointment of its current ambassador to Slovakia, Bridget Brink, as head of this mission, a position that has been vacant since 2019.
On the front lines, now shifting to eastern and southern Ukraine, fighting continued to rage and cast a shadow over Orthodox Easter celebrations.
Yesterday, at least five people died and 18 were injured in attacks on railway facilities in the Vinnytsia region (central-west), an important hub through which most international trains pass in this country.
For his part, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, accused kyiv of shelling a village, injuring two civilians and damaging two houses.