MOSVOW, May 24. /TASS/. The United Kingdom keeps on pushing Kiev to a warpath by advancing new initiatives on weapons supplies to Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin said on Tuesday.

"So far, official London is sparing no effort to push Kiev to a warpath and doesn’t let it pull off by advancing new initiatives. It keeps on promising to supply new weapons. Much is said about it here, but little is done," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.

He noted that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson "speaks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky literally every other day not to let him step away from this path."

He also commented on reports that UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss supports the idea of sending warships to the Black Sea to escort Ukrainian vessels with grain from Odessa. "It [this initiative] was voiced by Liz Truss at a meeting with the Lithuanian foreign minister. It is quite funny. Where is Lithuania, where is London and where is the Black Sea?" he said.

"London is well aware of what is going on there because the International Maritime Organization, which deals with these things, is headquartered here," the Russian diplomat said. "It has stated that Kiev authorities are reluctant to clear the port of Odessa. The matter is that it was not merely mined. The mine maps have been either lost or non-existent. Second, barges and pontoon cranes have been sunk there. A range of obstacles not to let any ship leave the port of Odessa."