Russia is at WAR with NATO and there is now a real chance the conflict will turn NUCLEAR, Kremlin foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warns
- Sergei Lavrov warned east-west tensions now worse than during the Cold War
- Accused NATO of fighting proxy war with Russia in Ukraine to 'wear out' its army
- Said risk of nuclear war is now 'very significant' and 'cannot be underestimated'
- Ukraine said Lavrov's 'scaremongering' is a sign he 'senses defeat' in the war
By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 16:58 AEST, 26 April 2022 | UPDATED: 17:17 AEST, 26 April 2022
Russia's top diplomat has warned that NATO is now fighting a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine and there is a 'very serious' risk the conflict could turn nuclear.
Sergei Lavrov, speaking on Russian state TV last night, accused western leaders of risking a third world war by supplying Ukraine with weapons with the goal of 'wearing down the Russian army' - an aim he described as an 'illusion'.
Accusing NATO and its allies of attempting to bully Russia on the international stage, Lavrov warned that tensions between east and west are now worse than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War.
Asked directly about the possibility of a nuclear war, he replied: 'The risks are very significant. I do not want the danger to be artificially inflated [but] it is serious, real. It cannot be underestimated.'
Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, has warned that NATO is now fighting a proxy-war against Moscow and there is a 'very significant' risk the conflict will turn nuclear
Lavrov accused the West of risking a third world war in Ukraine by supplying weapons with the hope of 'wearing out the Russian army' - a goal he called 'an illusion'
Lavrov, speaking to Russian state TV, said tensions between east and west are now at a worse point than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War
Lavrov also repeated warnings that shipments of western weapons into Ukraine will be considered legitimate targets by Russia - a day after missiles struck the country's train network in an apparent attempt to stop the deliveries.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he regarded Russia's scaremongering as a sign of weakness.
Russia had lost its 'last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine,' Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrov's interview. 'This only means Moscow senses defeat.'
During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department on Monday used an emergency declaration to approve the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine.
The Pentagon said the package could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.
Moscow's ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.
Lavrov said: 'NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.'
Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad.
Moscow calls its actions a 'special operation' to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia considers western arms shipments to Ukraine legitimate targets for attack, Lavrov added, after the US pledged to send heavier weapons to the country this week (file image)
The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defence talks that will focus on arming Kyiv, U.S. officials said.
Britain said all tariffs on goods coming into the country from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed and it would send new ambulances, fire engines, medical supplies and funding for health experts to help the emergency services.
Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday that it had declared 40 German diplomatic staff 'personae non gratae' in a retaliatory move after Berlin expelled the same number of Russian diplomats.
Russia has yet to capture any of the biggest cities. Its forces were forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance.
'It is obvious that every day - and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun - that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it will all be over,' President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday.
'There is no simple answer to that at this time.'
Having failed to take the capital Kyiv, Moscow last week launched a massive assault in an attempt to capture eastern provinces known as the Donbas, which if successful would link territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday that Russia's offensive continued in the eastern Kharkiv region with Russian forces trying to advance towards Zavody.
Lavrov spoke out after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (left) met with President Zelensky (right) in Kyiv and pledged more arms for Ukraine
Blinken (second left) and Austin (left) said after the meeting that the goal of arms shipments is to ensure Ukraine can 'win' the war and to 'weaken' Russia so it cannot repeat the invasion
Zelensky has been calling for weeks for NATO allies to supply artillery, tanks, aircraft and armoured vehicles so his army can take the fight to Russia
Russia's defence ministry earlier said its missiles destroyed six facilities powering the railways that were used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region. Reuters could not verify the report.
The head of Ukraine's state rail company said that one railway worker had been killed and four injured by Russian missile strikes on five Ukrainian railway stations on Monday.
Ukrainian forces have repelled five Russian attacks and killed just over 200 Russian servicemen, said the Ukrainian military command in the southern and eastern sectors.
Five tanks were also destroyed, along with eight armoured vehicles, it said in a statement.
Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the country's east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.
Reports say the city of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izium, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.
The governor of Russia's Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukraine had fired on two villages, and at least two people were wounded. Reuters was unable to verify the Ukrainian or Russian reports.
Russian forces were continuing on Monday to bomb and shell the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down in a city ravaged by a siege and bombardment, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.
Moscow said it was opening a humanitarian corridor to let civilians out of the plant but Kyiv said no agreement had been reached.
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Ukraine war: Russia's Sergei Lavrov warns of nuclear conflict with the West
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