REUTERS - During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.
Russia told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear war that it said it wanted to reduce and warned that conventional Western weapons were legitimate targets in Ukraine, where battles raged in the east.
"The risks now are considerable," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia's state television according to a transcript of an interview on the ministry's website.
"I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it."
Lavrov had been asked about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a low point in US-Soviet relations.
Russia had lost its "last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrov's interview. "This only means Moscow senses defeat."During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.
The US 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.
The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defense talks that will focus on arming Kyiv, US 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.
Photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov laugh as they arrive for a meeting at the Harpa Concert Hall, on the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial summit, in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 19, 2021 (credit: SAUL LOEB/POOL VIA REUTERS)