MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The West is trying to destroy the Ukrainian population by stepping up arms supplies to Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"The West supplies weapons with such hatred; keeps stepping up military supplies with such arrogance and intransigence, while understanding that Ukraine is becoming smaller and smaller. This could only be possible due to a deep desire to eradicate the Ukrainian population, which is what the collective West is demonstrating," the diplomat told Sputnik radio.

Zakharova added that all US officials now say that, "there can be no freezing the conflict, there can be no peace talks, no diplomacy in the context of the Ukrainian crisis now, because only <…> on the battlefield can this issue be resolved." According to the diplomat, the Ukrainian population is merely an "issue" for the Americans.

"From the point of view of the Ukrainian issue, the further we go, the more I am convinced that hatred on ethnic grounds is [being exhibited] with respect to the Kiev regime in the context of the Russian-speaking and ethnic Russian population, but also with respect to the collective West in the context of the Ukrainian population," Zakharova added.