MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. European countries’ plans to send F-16 fighter jets and Mi-24B helicopters to Kiev point to their increasing involvement in the conflict around Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
"The Czech army plans to send its Russian-made Mi-24B helicopters to Kiev after it receives US-made combat helicopters. Last week, news came following [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky’s ‘begging tour’ of European countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, that their countries intend to provide Kiev with F-16 fighter jets. All these steps confirm the Westerners’ hostile attitude towards Russia and their increasing involvement in the conflict around Ukraine," the statement reads.
According to Zakharova, Western countries keep demanding that Ukraine continue "its much hyped counteroffensive, flooding the criminal Kiev regime with weapons, training Ukrainian troops and sending mercenaries and intelligence to Ukraine" so that it can carry out strikes on Russian territory. "In order to distract its Western sponsors from the problems it is facing on the frontline, including the failure of the so-called ‘counteroffensive,’ the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev continues to conduct pointless attacks on civilian facilities in Russia, which are widely covered by Ukrainian and foreign media," the Russian diplomat noted.
The Westerners and their Ukrainian wards "are actively promoting Zelensky’s so-called ‘peace formula,’ which in fact has nothing to do with peace and only contains a set of ultimatums that Russia cannot accept. In reality, they are seeking to form an anti-Russian coalition, particularly trying to drag our partners in the Global South into it," Zakharova explained.
She emphasized that the goals of Russia’s special military operation, including the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and the elimination of threats to Russia’s security, remained relevant.