Fight to the Last Ukrainian? UK, France Vow to Funnel More Weapons Into Kiev Regime

In a move expected to further escalate the Ukraine conflict as part of the so-called “fight to the last Ukrainian” paradigm, France and the United Kingdom have announced plans to supply air defense systems to Kiev in the coming weeks.

The UK government said in a statement on Thursday that Britain will “donate cutting-edge air defense missiles to Ukraine which can help protect against Russian missile strikes” that Moscow launched in response to Kiev’s terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge last week. The strikes were conducted as Russia continues its special operation to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, for his part, argued that “Russia’s latest indiscriminate strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine warrant further support to those seeking to defend their nation.” The strikes targeted Ukrainian infrastructure in the wake of the October 8 terrorist attack on Crimea's Kerch Strait Bridge. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that Moscow targeted Ukrainian energy, military command, and communications facilities in different parts of Ukraine with high-precision weapons

Wallace's statement came after French President Emmanuel Macron told the TV channel France2 on Wednesday that Paris is intensifying its military aid to Kiev following recent Russian airstrikes that hit Ukrainian infrastructure objects.

“We’re going to deliver […] radars, systems and missiles to protect them [Ukrainians] from these attacks, particularly from drone attacks,” Macron said.

He spoke as Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexei Meshkov told Sputnik that Moscow is keeping a watchful eye on Paris’ “unfriendly steps” regarding arms supplies to Ukraine.

Meshkov stressed that Moscow opposes such deliveries because this contributes to the Ukraine conflict and results in more casualties, including among civilians. He added that he had raised the issue during talks at the French Foreign Ministry and that the Russian Foreign Ministry had summoned a French ambassador in Moscow.

US, Germany Pledge More Military Hardware to Kiev

The decisions by Britain and France to provide Ukraine with their air defenses were preceded by similar steps by the US and Germany last month. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced that Berlin would send 50 “Dingo” armored vehicles and two more Mars multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that President Joe Biden had approved additional military aid to Kiev worth up to $675 million. According to him, the package includes howitzers, artillery munitions, Humvees, armored ambulances, and anti-tank systems.

Russia Warns West not to Provide Kiev With Arms

Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against its arms supplies to Kiev, which the Kremlin says contributes to further escalating the Ukraine conflict. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cautioned that “any weapon, [and] any arms shipment on the Ukrainian territory" would be considered “a legitimate target” by the Russian military.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu underlined that the Ukraine conflict had become another pretext for the US and its allies to unleash an economic and information war against Moscow in order to deplete it strategically. “Ukraine has been picked [by the West] as an instrument of a hybrid war against Russia,” Shoigu added, stressing that Western arms supplies to Kiev add to prolonging the Ukraine conflict and causing more casualties.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, for her part, accused Washington of losing “touch with reality”, adding that the US has “actually become a party” to the Ukraine conflict. She said that “further evidence of this is the US Congress recently agreeing on the allocation of a new assistance package to the Kiev regime worth almost $12 billion.”

Lavrov, in turn, referred to Ukrainian forces widely using the US-made military hardware and communication systems in the hostilities, underlining that “the United States is not at all neutral in this situation" and that Washington is "a party to the [Ukraine] conflict.”

In last month's address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted that the West’s current goal is “to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy” Russia. Putin referred to “some irresponsible politicians in the West,“ who “talk about plans to organize the supply of long-range offensive weapons to Ukraine, systems that are capable of launching strikes against Crimea and other regions of Russia.” The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that the West’s supplies of such weaponry to Kiev would become “red lines” for Moscow, which the ministry said had enough instruments to retaliate.

To the Last Ukrainian?

In late March, retired senior US diplomat Chas Freeman claimed that America is waging an undeclared war with Russia in Ukraine "to the last Ukrainian" in order to maintain its hegemony in the world.

Commenting on the Russian special operation in Ukraine in an interview with the Gray Zone's Aaron Mate, Freeman argued that "this is […] a struggle between the United States and Russia for a sphere of influence that will include Ukraine."

He claimed that everything the US is currently doing, "rather than accelerate an end to the fighting and some compromise, seems to be aimed at prolonging” hostilities in Ukraine.

"We are engaged […] in a proxy war, and we're selling a lot of weapons. That makes arms manufacturers happy. We're supporting a valiant resistance, which gives politicians something to crow about. We're going against an officially designated enemy, Russia, which makes us feel vindicated. So, from the point of view of those with these self-interested views of the issue, this is a freebie,” Freeman asserted.