Earlier this month, the Russian embassy in Washington said that if the U.S. sent air defense systems to Kyiv, the move could be met with “unpredictable consequences,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed to strike a different note.
“Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” he said.
The day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked the U.S. Congress for continued support in his country’s war with Russia, as The Dallas Express reported.
During that visit, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced $1.85 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine, including a Patriot air defense missile system and another round of high-speed anti-radiation missiles (HARMs).
“Your support is crucial not just to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield. We have artillery. Thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really,” Zelenskyy said to Congress.
The president’s characterization of the billions in aid Ukraine has received thus far as “not” enough prompted laughter from lawmakers in the chamber, The Epoch Times reported.
In Moscow, Putin responded in comments to the Russian press after U.S. President Joe Biden and Washington welcomed Zelenskyy.
Putin described the Patriot, the costly air defense system sent to Ukraine by the U.S., as “quite an old system,” contrasting it unfavorably with the Russian counterpart S-300 (original message in Russian, translated via Google Translate).
The Russian president took aim at the American supply of weapons to Ukraine, suggesting that “there will always be an antidote. So those who do this are doing it in vain: it’s just prolonging the conflict, that’s all.”
“We will strive to ensure that this [military operation] is completed, and the sooner, the better, of course,” Putin claimed to reporters. “Well, as for what is happening and how, I have already said many times: The intensification of hostilities leads to unjustified losses — the chicken pecks, grain by grain.”
The invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 28, reached 300 days on Christmas.