Russian Embassy Calls on US to Abandon Plans to Provide More Weapons to Ukraine

"If the United States is truly committed to diplomatic efforts to resolve the intra-Ukrainian conflict, they should abandon plans to supply new batches of weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Instead, Washington should use its influence on the Ukrainian authorities to convince them to stop sabotaging the Minsk Agreements," the statement reads, TASS reported.

Moscow also calls on Washington to end the hysteria around the Donbass issue, the Russian embassy said in a statement.

The embassy pointed out that on January 18, the White House, the US Department of State and high-ranking Pentagon officials had made remarks "about the absence of de-escalation steps on the Russian-Ukrainian border" and "argued that our country could invade the neighboring state at any moment, including from the territory of Belarus."

"We stress once again: Russia is not going to attack anyone. The practice of moving troops on our own soil is a sovereign right. We call to end the hysteria and not to pile on tension around the Donbass problem. And most importantly - not to push ‘hotheads’ in Kiev towards new provocations," the statement added.

CNN reported last week that the US authorities had authorized additional military aid to Ukraine worth $200 mln. According to the report, the US intends to provide Ukraine with small arms, ammunition, medical and radar surveillance equipment. Meanwhile, Politico said that "the $200 million was approved as part of President Joe Biden’ drawdown authority, which empowers him to have the secretary of state ask the secretary of defense to deliver items from existing Pentagon stock to a country in peril."

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on those reports, that increasing weapons supplies to Ukraine were escalating tensions in the conflict zone.