U.S. members of Congress in Kyiv on Russia’s threats to intensify strikes: "Sign of complete desperation"
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Jim Himes said the Russian regime’s threats to intensify strikes on Kyiv and its demands to evacuate embassies are a sign of weakness and Moscow’s complete desperation over the systemic failures of Russian troops at the front.
The members of Congress said this during a briefing in Kyiv, Censor.NET reports, citing hromadske.
Reaction of members of Congress
The U.S. lawmakers stressed that the Kremlin’s nuclear and missile blackmail no longer works on the West and will have "the exact opposite effect" for the United States.
"And the price they are paying for their defense and attempts to seize additional territory is staggering. The Russian people need to look at what is being demanded of them: their own blood, the lives of their own sons, so that this insane dictator can lose territory in Ukraine. I think in the coming months we will see the Ukrainian military continue to retake territory, imposing enormous costs on Russia. So this is a sign of desperation," Himes said.
He also added that threats from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Putin henchmen only motivate Washington: "This will lead to additional resources flowing to the people of Ukraine."
Senator Richard Blumenthal, for his part, assured that American diplomats are not going to leave the Ukrainian capital despite the Kremlin’s intimidation.
"America is not leaving Ukraine. Our diplomats are here for the long haul. We support Ukraine, as we have from the very beginning. We will not be intimidated by Russian threats," he said.
Blumenthal stressed that the world is seeing not an "escalation of Russia’s capabilities," but only "the growing brutality of Putin," who attacks apartment buildings, hospitals and schools out of helplessness.
The American senator summed up that he is returning to Washington with a clear and defined list of weapons that the United States must urgently provide to Ukraine. The list includes:
- long-range artillery;
- additional HIMARS systems and ATACMS missiles;
- heavy tanks;
- F-16 fighter jets;
- new air defense systems.
Background
- Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was planning new strikes on Kyiv and called on foreigners and diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital.
- The targets would allegedly include "sites for the design, production, programming and preparation for the use of UAVs used by the ‘Kyiv regime’ with the assistance of NATO specialists."
- Russia claims that the strike on Kyiv would allegedly be in response to an attack on a college and dormitory in Starobilsk, Luhansk region, on 22 May. Putin said six people were killed in the attack and another 15, according to him, went missing.
- The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has already denied this information and said that the headquarters of the Rubicon unit was hit in the area of Starobilsk at the time.
- On the evening of 25 May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and voiced new threats to him about Russia’s "systematic strikes" on Kyiv.
