The West Reported Will Send Long Distance Weapons To Ukraine, Foreign Minister Lavrov: We Backed Back
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday Russian troops would respond to the delivery of Western long-range weapons to Kyiv by trying to push back Ukrainian troops further from its borders, to create a safe buffer zone.

Lavrov told state TV everyone wanted the conflict in Ukraine - what Moscow calls a "special military operation" - to end, but Western support for Kyiv played an important role in Russia's approach to the campaign.

Two US officials told Reuters on Tuesday Washington was preparing a new $2.2 billion military aid package which is expected to include long-range rockets for the first time.

"We see how all NATO is fighting against us," Lavrov said.

"We are now seeking to push back Ukrainian army artillery to distances that would not pose a threat to our territory," he added.

"The greater the range of weapons supplied to the Kyiv regime, the more we have to push them back from territory that is part of our country," said Foreign Minister Lavrov.

In this context, he said it was "objective reality" that Russia had expanded its territory by including four Ukrainian territories last year.

Most United Nations member countries condemn the annexation of the four regions consisting of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia as illegal.

Lavrov said Russia did not need help in Ukraine from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the alliance of former Soviet countries and did not ask it to provide material support.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that long-range rocket shipments to Ukraine would only escalate the conflict, but not change course.

Meanwhile, military analysts said such weapons would put all Russian supply lines in eastern Ukraine, as well as parts of the annexed Crimea, within reach of Ukrainian troops.

Ukraine says it plans to retake all of its territory by force, including Crimea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 last year.

He said the operation was necessary to protect Russia's security, against what he described as Western efforts to contain and weaken Moscow.

Separately, Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of fomenting an illegal war designed to expand its territory.


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