Amid growing intensity of the Russia invasion of Ukraine that caused several actions against the country, its Foreign Ministry has warned the European Union (EU) of consequences over its recent pledge to arms supply to the ex-Soviet nation.
Moscow also alleged that the EU had long been backing the Kyiv regime despite controversial activities including killing of people in east Ukraine.
In a statement on Monday, the ministry said the EU citizens and agencies involved in the delivery of lethal weapons, fuel and lubricants to the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be held responsible for any consequences of these actions during the ongoing special military operation.
“They should be aware of the severity of these consequences,” he said.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday that they, for the first time ever, will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to Ukraine.
“We are also strengthening our sanctions against the Kremlin,” she said then, shutting it’s the EU airspace for Russian owned, Russian registered and Russian controlled aircraft, including aircraft owned by Russian oligarchs.
The next day, Russia too closed its airspace to airlines from 36 countries, including all 27 members of the EUnion.
Terming the February 27 decision to send weapons to Ukrainian as self-exposing, Russian in the statement said: “The EU has irrevocably taken the side of the Kiev regime, which waged a policy of genocide against part of its own population.”
Moscow has been plagued with a series of sanctions and embargos against it ever since the February 24 Ukraine attack that kept witnessing a growing number of casualties, with the damage of properties increasing.
However, Russia claimed that the EU “stood in silence while the population of Donbass was being exterminated and the Russian language was being strangled in Ukraine.”
“It disregarded our endless calls to take notice of the predominance of Nazis in the Ukrainian authorities, and the socioeconomic blockade and murder of innocent civilians in the southeast of Ukraine,” it added.
The 27-nation bloc, Moscow said, conditioned its future relations with Russia on the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures but did nothing to encourage Kiev to start implementing its main provisions.
“We will provide a tough response to the EU’s actions. Russia will continue to ensure the implementation of its vital national interests, notwithstanding the sanctions or threats of sanctions,” the statement reads.
Mentionable, Ukraine on Tuesday urged the EU to prove that it sides with Kyiv as it battles invading Russian forces, a day after signing an official request to join the bloc.
At least 136 people, including 13 children, have been killed during the Russian invasion and another 400 civilians have been injured, according to the United Nations, but the real death toll is likely much higher.
Close to 700,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries since the invasion began in what the UN has warned looks set to become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century.
