The new EU sanctions slip. Russia: “War can spread”

New EU sanctions against Russia are still postponed. The meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels (Koreber) ended without the green light to impose the sixth package of sanctions against Hungary’s opposition, according to diplomatic sources. Budapest opposes the inclusion of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on the list. Coreper will now be held again once the French presidency deems fit.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has officially made an “important new package Assisting in the provision of timely and decisive military assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In a statement, the US President said that “the United States will provide more weapons” that Ukraine can use “to effectively repel Russian attacks.” This new package – he says – will arm them with new advanced capabilities, including HIMARS (missiles) to defend their lands from the Russian advance.

And the Russia warns: Supplying Ukraine with long-range missile launchers could widen the scope of the warto me. This is the warning given by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a press conference in Riyadh. “Such a danger (of the intervention of third countries) certainly exists – he warned – that what the Kyiv regime emphatically demands of its Western godfather above all overcomes all limits of decency and diplomatic communication, and, secondly, a direct provocation aimed at engaging the West in military action.”

The head of diplomacy in Moscow then stressed that there are “healthy Western politicians” who understand the dangers of a widening conflict and do not accept such a scenario. But he accused, “Frankly, there are politicians in the European Union, especially in the Nordic countries, who are ready to indulge in this madness to satisfy their ambitions, but, of course, serious EU countries. They fully understand that such scenarios are unacceptable.”

Then Lavrov said that Moscow had received “signals of reasonable assessments from Washington” about arms supplies to Kyiv, “We have repeatedly communicated our position on this matter through existing channels between our countries, including Russia. The main Western countries know this. We will.”

The missile system known as Himars (High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems) is capable of firing missiles with a range of about 80 kilometers. This was confirmed by US defense sources, according to what was reported by CNN.

So they are missiles with a range less than the maximum range of the system, which is about 300 km. But its range is still much greater than that of the weapons Washington has sent so far. The M777 howitzer, which was sent last month, has significantly increased the power and range over the previously sent systems, but does not exceed 25 kilometers.

In the new package, the eleventh package of $700 million in military assistance to Ukraine, there will also be air reconnaissance radars, other Javelin anti-tank missiles, artillery ammunition, helicopters, tactical vehicles and spare parts to support military maintenance operations. equipment.