MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. The United States is evidently seeking to "take a pause" in the Ukrainian crisis to make it possible for the NATO defense sector to augment weapons stockpiles, Rodion Miroshnik, former ambassador of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to Russia, told TASS on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith admitted that Ukraine and the West were facing weapons shortages and said she was sure that Western nations would find ways to increase weapons production.

"The United States again wants to use talks as a smokescreen to get a technological pause for its defense sector, which has turned out to be unprepared for such extensive supplies. And this statement only proves that the West doesn’t want to settle [the Ukrainian crisis] at all, it only needs a break to manufacture more weapons," he said.

On February 24, Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the heads of the Donbass republics. After that, the West imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia and beefed up arms supplies to the Kiev regime worth tens of billions of dollars.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in early December that the situation in Ukraine could be settled through peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. Other leading politicians from NATO countries also admit the necessity of such a dialogue.