US vows to weaken Russian forces in Ukraine, as Russia warns conflict will escalate

The United States (U.S.) has vowed to weaken the Russian forces in Ukraine. The U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyed Austin, on Monday declared that the ‘U.S. wants to see the Russian military “weakened” in the invasion of Ukraine.” Austin had met President Zelenskyy of Ukraine with the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to discuss the tyle of weapons that Ukrainian military needs to confront the Russian army. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had demanded the West to supply more “heavy weapons for Ukraine to confront Russian forces.

Zelenskyy had cried out: “We need heavy artillery, armored vehicles, air defense systems, and combat aircraft.

“Anything to repel Russian forces and stop their war crimes.

“As many as possible.”

The weapons list Zelenskyy requested included 155 mm artillery pieces and 152 mm artillery shells.

The U.S. Defence Secretary, Austin, had declared: “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.

“It has already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.”

According to Austin: “We believe that [Ukraine] can win if they have the right equipment, the right support.”

However, Russia warned the U.S. on Monday, to discontinue sending arms and equipment to Ukraine’s military, declaring that such maneuvers would escalate the conflict.

It will be recalled that the US and NATO resolved not send troops to Ukraine because such action could widen the conflict to parts of Europe. Besides, Russia had cautioned against any external interference in the Ukraine crisis. President Putin also threatened nuclear war if any external interference occurs. The Russian nuclear deterrence force was activated and ordered to be on red alert.

The Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, had cautioned that arms deliveries, which he identified to include Javelin anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, were designed to weaken Russia’s military capacity, but are instead undermining efforts to come to a peace agreement. He warned that the arms deliveries will also serve to further inflame the conflict.

According to Antonov: “What the Americans are doing is pouring oil on the flames.

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“I see only an attempt to raise the stakes, to aggravate the situation, to see more losses.”