Islam Times - Ukraine Wants to Provoke NATO into Clash with Russia: Envoy

Islam Times - The Kiev government is taking provocative actions aimed at embroiling the United States and other NATO members into a head-on collision with Russia, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said.

"Such provocative statements are extremely dangerous and reckless. The calls by Russophobes mean only one thing - further US involvement in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the agonizing Zelensky (government)," Antonov said, commenting on statements by US politicians and lawmakers, calling for giving the Kiev government an opportunity to use US weapons against military and energy facilities deep inside Russia.

"The level of hysterical reaction to our successes at the front is growing in Washington exponentially, not by the day but by the hour. Politicians and lawmakers continue to test our patience. Every day we hear new proposals to expand military assistance to the junta in Kiev," he said in a statement, posted on the Russian embassy’s Telegram channel, TASS reported.

"It is obvious that Kiev wants to do what it can to provoke the United States, as well as other NATO countries, into rash actions and achieve a head-on collision between Russia and the bloc's members."

In his opinion, "this is exactly how ideas about using long-range American systems against Russian civilians, primarily women, children and the elderly, should be viewed."

"Here we must also add the nudge of Western states to shoot down aircraft of the Russian Armed Forces," Antonov said. "Let me emphasize: (Ukraine) has long since stopped asking permission from the Western masters to wage war against civilian targets on Russian territory. Barbaric raids using deadly products of the NATO military-industrial complex are carried out across our country on an almost regular basis.".