Kremlin Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin warned on January 22 that sending additional offensive weapons to Ukraine “would lead to global catastrophe.”
Volodin, 58, said the continued support for Ukraine by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is driving the world into a “horrible war” and is supplying Kyiv with powerful weapons. He pointed out that countries with
“If Washington and NATO countries attack civilian cities and supply weapons to try to occupy our territory, and they are threatening, this will lead to retaliation with more powerful weapons.” said Volodin in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
“We cannot support the claim that nuclear powers have never used weapons of mass destruction in regional conflicts,” he added. “These states were not faced with a situation in which the security of their citizens and the territorial integrity of the country were threatened.”
A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Borodin has been the Speaker of the House of Commons, commonly known as the Lower House of the Russian Federation, since 2016.
The latest nuclear threat comes after Washington and NATO pledged billions of dollars in arms to Ukraine last week.
On January 19, the Pentagon announced that the United States had approved a new $2.5 billion aid package for Ukraine that includes 90 Stryker combat vehicles and 59 Bradley combat vehicles.
The package does not include tanks. This is controversial because it indicated that Germany would not send its own Leopard tanks to Ukraine unless the US sent Abrams.
Rep. Michael McCall (Texas Republican) told ABC’s “This Week on Sunday” that the United States would send some Abrams tanks to Ukraine and that Germany would be reluctant to share its own tanks. said to have to overcome
McCall, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, told the network, “If you announced that you would give us just one Abrams tank, that would unleash a stream of tanks from Germany.” What is there is Germany waiting for us to take the lead.”
Ukraine support tracker
The US pledged about $50 billion in security, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine last year. numbers From the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research institute. As a single country, the United States has pledged more aid to Kyiv than ever before.
By contrast, the second-placed government in 2022 was the UK, which pledged $7.5 billion to Ukraine, according to the database.
All European countries and institutions combined recently surpassed US aid to Ukraine. In December 2022, the EU pledged to support Kyiv financially through her 2023. €18 billion ($19.5 billion), which brings the continent’s total aid to just under €52 billion ($56.4 billion).
“So far, since the start of the war, EU aid to Ukraine has always lagged behind US aid,” said Keel Institute director and head of the team that compiles the data for the Ukraine Aid Tracker. As one Christophe Trebesch said:so statement.
“This has changed in recent weeks, as the EU’s total commitments now exceed those of the United States,” he continued. The EU’s massive new pledge is a welcome development.”
The new package, of which Germany is the largest contributor, makes Berlin the largest donor in Europe, overtaking the UK for the first time.
Total spending in Washington
The United States has so far allocated $113 billion for assistance to Ukraine, of which $24.2 billion has been used for security assistance since Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion.
The huge US spending on Ukraine has drawn criticism from some Republicans. Last month, Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.) argued that these funds may have benefited US citizens.
“$100 billion for Ukraine. How long are you going to pay?”
Naveen Athrappully, Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
from NTD News