VIENNA, October 4. /TASS/. Instead of reconciliation efforts in eastern Ukraine, the Kiev government continues to reinforce its troops in the region with US-made weaponry, Russia’s permanent envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Thursday.
"Instead of reconciliation efforts, Kiev continues to boost the Armed Forces of Ukraine with weaponry that it receives mostly from the United States," Alexander Lukashevich told the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna.
"So far, US assistance worth over $1 billion has already been received. According to media reports, a large-scale batch of lethal weapons and ammunition was delivered to Ukraine on August 30, which included: 3,500 firearms, over 3,100 mines, about 2 million cartridges, about 34,000 explosive devices and 52,000 rockets," he continued. "There were also reports of supplies of Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles, Hummer armored vehicles and grenade launchers."
Moreover, the Ukrainian armed forces received two US-made Island-class patrol boats last week, the Russian diplomat said.
"During his annual address to [Ukrainian parliament] Verkhovna Rada, the president of Ukraine mentioned his intention to buy high-precision weapons from the United States, and in his recent interview to CNN he spoke of plans to get US-made air defense systems. Those actions by the US and its allies directly violate their international commitments not to deliver weaponry to zones of armed conflict," Lukashevich said.