LONDON, May 15. /TASS/. New deliveries of increasingly longer-range weapons to the Kiev authorities demonstrate Britain's open involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian embassy in London said in a statement released to TASS on Monday.
"We see that London continues to be systematically and openly involved in the Ukrainian conflict. When making decisions, it disregards both the scale of the destruction caused and the number of human lives lost. It follows the motto ‘the ends justify the means.’ The centuries-long experience of London's foreign policy machinations shows that the British leadership has no serious reservations about this," it said.
"There is no doubt that the regime in Kiev will not resist the temptation to use increasingly advanced longer-range weapons coming from the West, including the NATO fighter aircraft they have asked for, to sow death, destruction and terror among civilians in Donbass, Crimea and other Russian regions," the statement reads. "However, neither demonstrative statements about the inviolability of the British-Ukrainian link, nor military gifts will be able to have a significant fundamental impact on the course of the special military operation and the implementation of its objectives. We are certain both London and Kiev are aware of this."
The Russian embassy stressed that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to Britain would cost British taxpayers dearly.
"Zelensky's visit to Britain during his latest European blitz tour did not come as a surprise. Understandably, after the token handshakes with the leaders of France, Germany and Italy there developed an urgent need to embrace one more major benefactor. This whole time, the British officialdom and the media have been persuading local taxpayers that in the interests of 'peace’ and amid the already difficult socio-economic situation in the country, they will have to shell out more to satisfy the voracious appetite of the Kiev authorities," the embassy said.
New military aid package
On Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office, amid Zelensky's visit, said that London would supply Ukraine with hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles in the coming months, as well as hundreds of longer-range attack drones with a range of over 200 kilometers. Starting this summer, Britain will begin training Ukrainian military pilots, as was announced in February. To this end, a new training center will be opened to train Ukrainian servicemen to fly Western aircraft.
Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with Zelensky at the Chequers country residence, Sunak said that Britain would support Ukraine's efforts to build a coalition of countries prepared to supply Kiev with F-16 fighter jets. The British prime minister’s spokesperson said while looking back on what was accomplished during Zelensky's visit that London still did not intend to provide its Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Kiev. He explained that the Ukrainian authorities would prefer to have F-16s in their arsenal.