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‘Emboldening loose cannons’: Kremlin blasts US move to expand arms supplies to Ukraine

The US has provided $2.5 bln in military assistance to Kiev since 2014, including $400 mln allocated this year

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Russia regrets that Washington is stepping up arms supplies to Ukraine, thereby emboldening loose cannons in Kiev, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Channel One on Thursday.

"The delivery of US weapons to Ukraine has become a routine thing. Regrettably, we can see a trend of this process intensifying. We don’t think that these supplies can help stabilize the situation regarding Ukraine’s domestic conflict in the southeast. Quite the opposite, [we believe] the risk is mounting that the existence of these weapons, you know, will embolden some loose cannons and, God forbid, will make them believe that they can solve the problem in the southeast through force," he pointed out.

Washington has provided $2.5 bln in military assistance to Kiev since 2014, including $400 mln allocated this year. The US supplies Ukraine with weapons and sends specialists to train Kiev’s troops. Ukraine received $350 mln in military aid in 2017 and 2018, $250 mln in 2019, and $300 mln in 2020. The country obtained the American-made Javelin systems after the Trump administration had approved the sale of lethal weapons to Kiev.