Russia’s ambassador to the United States has criticized Washington for its reaction to Moscow’s proposal for a unilateral 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine. The ceasefire, which began at noon Moscow time (4 a.m. ET), was dismissed as a cynical ploy by Ukraine and the United States.
“Even the ceasefire declared unilaterally by the Russian Federation on the entire line of contact in Ukraine during Orthodox Christmas has been described as an attempt to “blow off”.
“All this means that Washington is determined to fight us ‘to the last Ukrainian,’ while the fate of the Ukrainian people means nothing to the United States,” Anatoly Antonov said, according to a reading of his comments published by the Russian Foreign Ministry. friday.
A bit of context: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of seeking to use the Orthodox Christmas holiday as a “cover” to resupply and halt Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbass region.
US President Joe Biden expressed a similar concern on Thursday, telling reporters he was “reluctant to respond to anything Putin says.”
“I found that interesting. He was prepared to bomb hospitals, nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Years,” Biden continued. “I mean, I think he’s trying to find oxygen.”
Moscow accuses Washington of prolonging the war: On Friday, Antonov blamed Washington for wanting to prolong the conflict by providing a new military aid package to Kyiv, which will include US Bradley fighting vehicles.
“The actions of the administration incite the Ukrainian radicals to continue their terrible acts. With each consecutive arms transfer, their feeling of impunity grows stronger. They continue to kill civilians in the Donbass, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of the Russian Federation in an extremely cynical way,” Antonov claimed.
“Most remarkably, the administration revealed the aforementioned decision after a telephone conversation between President Biden and German Chancellor Scholz,” he said. “Given the close ties between Washington and Berlin, it becomes clear that the American-led West simply deceived our country and began deliberately weakening Russia long before February 24, 2022,” Antonov said.
