MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Military aid to the Kiev regime provided by NATO makes the US-led bloc's countries a party to the conflict in Ukraine, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department Alexey Polishchuk said in an interview with RTVI.
"Giving Ukraine weapons, satellite and intelligence data, participating in the planning and implementation of tactical operations, entering combat under the cover of PMC and military instructors, undoubtedly, makes NATO countries a party to the conflict," he said.
"The actual participation of the alliance in combat was confirmed by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock who while speaking at a January 25 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe openly said: ‘We are fighting a war against Russia’," the diplomat added.
Replying to a question as to whether Russia perceives Ukraine as a de facto member of the alliance, the diplomat said that an unprecedentedly high degree of interaction between Ukraine and NATO is obvious. "Taking into account the volume of military and financial support for Kiev on the part of members of the bloc, Ukraine’s formal participation or lack thereof does not matter. Nowadays, Ukraine, even if not being a member formally, is in fact deeply integrated into the alliance because it serves as a NATO instrument, the main goal of which is to cause the utmost damage to Russia," he said.
According to the diplomat, in order to achieve this goal, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s regime sacrifices hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians whom he and his Western handlers view as "cannon fodder." "Recently, there was information in media outlets that the Ukrainian army’s total losses amounted to 257,000 people," he added.