President Donald Trump has said the United States will send additional weapons to Ukraine, triggering Russian criticism after Moscow claimed new gains in its grinding war against its neighbor.
The Kremlin warned Tuesday that sending arms to Ukraine only serves to prolong the conflict, a day after Trump’s pledge for “more weapons” for Ukraine to defend itself.
“It is obvious of course that these actions probably do not align with attempts to promote a peaceful resolution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying in a briefing.
Trump’s announcement to send weapons to Ukraine Monday followed Washington saying last week that it was halting some weapons shipments to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian officials caught off guard and scrambling for clarity.
A pause poses a potentially serious challenge for Kyiv, which is contending with some of Russia’s largest missile and drone attacks of the more than three-year war.
Trump has reportedly promised to immediately send 10 Patriot interceptors anti-missile systems to Ukraine, according to US news website Axios.
Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has shown little willingness to end the conflict despite pressure from Trump.
The US president’s pledge to ship more arms to Ukraine came after Moscow said Monday that its forces captured its first village in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region after advancing towards it for months.
Russia launched a fresh large-scale drone and missile barrage before the announcement, including on Ukraine’s military recruitment centers.
Kyiv also said it carried out a drone attack on a Russian ammunition factory in the Moscow region.
