WASHINGTON, September 28. /TASS/. Diplomatic efforts will produce no effects as long as the West keeps using the Kiev government as a mercenary against Russia, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday.
"The administration continues to ignore the fact that arms deliveries to Ukraine lead to further escalation of the conflict. The US and NATO military equipment is sowing death and destruction,’ the Russian diplomat said, commenting on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks that Washington does not object Kiev’s use of Western weapons against the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
"Civilians and children are being killed. Residential areas, schools and hospitals are being irreparably damaged," he continued. "In instigating Kiev to continue using the military equipment received from the West, Washington does not realize the riskiness of its actions. The sponsors of neo-Nazi criminals are approaching the dangerous line that Russia has repeatedly and clearly warned about. The United States becomes a party to the Ukrainian conflict."
"Diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis cannot be effective as long as the collective West uses the Zelensky regime as a military mercenary against Russia. Our steps to defend the Fatherland will be firm and decisive," Antonov said.
Last week, the leadership of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics as well as the liberated Kherson and Zaporozhye regions made a decision to hold referendums on joining Russia. All the four regions held the vote on September 23-27. In all those regions, the majority of voters supported joining Russia.