MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Attempts by the US and other Western countries to slow Russia’s special operation in Ukraine will be curbed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with TASS.

"We are also making it clear to the Americans and other Westerners that attempts to slow our special operation and inflict the most possible damage to Russian units and the units of the DPR and LPR will be curbed in a tough manner," he said.

Ryabkov also said Russia will regard US and NATO vehicles that transport weapons in Ukraine as legitimate military targets.

"We are warning that US-NATO vehicles with weapons that move across the Ukrainian territory will be viewed by us as legitimate military targets," he said.

On February 24 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify the country.