Russia threatens to increase strikes on Ukraine over US aid

Russia threatened to step up strikes on Ukraine in response to the U.S. vote to provide new military aid to the government in Kyiv.

“We will increase the intensity of attacks on logistics centers and storage bases for Western weapons” in Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday at a meeting with senior military staff, according to the ministry’s Telegram channel. Russia will strengthen its armed forces “and increase the production of the most in-demand weapons and military equipment” in response to the support of the U.S. and its allies for Ukraine, he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Washington aims to start swiftly shipping battlefield and air-defense assistance after the U.S. House voted to pass the $61 billion package with military and economic aid at the weekend, ending six months of delay amid opposition from Republican hardliners.

While the Senate must still approve the measure, the Biden administration has already begun preparing a package that could head to Ukraine as soon as the president signs the bill into law, a U.S. official said last week.

Shortages in weapons and manpower along the front, along with a dire need for more air defense systems, have pushed Ukraine’s fighting forces close to a breaking point, raising the risk of a Russian breakthrough. Russian forces currently hold the initiative across the entire frontline, and are forcing Ukraine out of their positions, Shoigu said during the meeting.

Responding directly to the planned delivery of U.S. aid, Shoigu said “most of the allocation will go to finance the military-industrial complex in the United States.”

Moscow has repeatedly said Western weapons supplied to Ukraine are legitimate targets, and in 2022, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow warned that the transfer to Ukraine of a Patriot missile system would make the U.S. party to the war. Still, Ukraine has received air-defense systems including Patriots from its allies.

Shoigu also said that Russia’s army is poised to receive the newest S-500 air-defense systems this year.