Moscow warned on Monday that other countries should not supply weapons in Kiev, amid escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“We urge all responsible countries with which we communicate – and Turkey is one of them – to assess (…) the situation and the regime’s ongoing belligerent statements in Kiev and call on them to discourage its militaristic aspirations,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday during a visit to Cairo, according to the TASS news agency.

The Russian warning was issued in the framework of Turkey’s delivery of armed UAVs to Ukraine under a bilateral agreement signed in 2019. According to the Ministry of Defence in Kiev, contacts for the delivery of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including ammunition, as well as the delivery of patrol boats was completed in December.

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Mr. Lavrov also criticized the alleged deployment of US warships in the Black Sea, stressing that the question of what exactly the US Navy ships are doing there, thousands of kilometers off the US coast, has not been answered. According to Turkey, the US warned it about the passage of warships from the Black Sea Straits until May 4th.

Amid escalating hostilities in eastern Ukraine, where armed conflict has been raging for the past seven years, the West is deeply concerned about the movement of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, with Washington talking about Russian “provocations”. “Questions are being asked about what Russia is doing on the border with Ukraine. The answer is very simple. We live over there, it is our country. But what exactly is the US doing with its warships and troops in Ukraine, thousands of kilometers away from their territory?”

The Luhansk and Danieck regions, along the Ukrainian-Russian border, have been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. The UN estimates that more than 13,000 people have been killed in the war. At least 50 deaths have been reported since the beginning of the year, although the ceasefire agreement theoretically remains in force. On Monday, the Ukrainian army announced that it had suffered another casualty.

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