Latest news on the war in Ukraine. Zakharova: ‘We could strike British targets’; the Kremlin denies this
Peskov also denies rumours of a military escalation: we simply have no need for it, because we are making headway in Ukraine anyway
Russia could attack any British military facility, “inside or outside Ukraine”, in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory using weapons supplied by London. This was stated by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, as quoted by Interfax. The threat was later downplayed.
Media reports about Russia’s alleged intention to attack NATO ‘have nothing to do with reality’ and are merely ‘scare tactics’, says Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, as quoted by RIA Novosti. “A lot of these alarmist stories are being published at the moment,” said Peskov. “Of course, they have nothing to do with reality and nothing to do with the intentions of the Russian Federation.”
“At the same time,” continued the spokesperson for President Vladimir Putin, “the Russian Federation is facing a very aggressive policy towards it on the part of European countries. And this aggression is coming precisely from European countries.” “If we’re talking about military escalation,” added Peskov in an interview with Bloomberg, “we simply don’t need it, because we’re making progress anyway (in Ukraine).”
Meanwhile, a number of EU countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, are urging Brussels to step up efforts to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to finance Ukraine, amid fears that Kyiv may once again be facing a funding crisis. This is reported by the Financial Times.
Plans to finance Ukraine by using over 200 billion euros of the Russian central bank’s assets held in the EU and subject to sanctions – he recalls – fell through last winter, after the Belgium, where most of these assets are held, had blocked the initiative.
