Russia Says West Directly At War With It In Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his address at United Nations (UN) said western powers, through their support to Ukraine, have effectively entered direct fighting against Moscow.

"You can call it anything you want, but they are fighting with us, they are straight-up fighting with us. We call it a hybrid war but that doesn't change things," Lavrov said at UN.

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly said he was seeking to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, a fellow nuclear power, and will not send American troops. His administration has also distanced itself from Ukrainian attacks into Russia itself.

But Lavrov pointed to the billions of dollars in Western military equipment provided to Kyiv since Russia attacked last year, as well as US and British intelligence support and the presence of Western military advisors, reported AFP.

Westerners are "de facto fighting against us, using the hands and bodies of Ukrainians," Lavrov was quoted as having said.

"I think everybody present here who pays at least some attention to the situation in Ukraine knows very well that Americans, Britons and others are fighting, first of all, through providing more and more weapons," he said, as per the report.?

He also pointed to the presence of Western mercenaries in Ukraine, the report mentioned.

He added the US and several other Western governments have discouraged their people from travelling to Ukraine and such fighters have gone on their own.

Lavrov was taking part in the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where all eyes were on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who flew to New York to appeal for greater support against the invasion.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday addressed a special Security Council session, in which he demanded that Russia be stripped of its veto. Lavrov showed up well after the Ukrainian president had spoken.

"I watched it on TV. He seemed rather grim," Lavrov said.?

"But I have my own affairs to attend to. We all knew what he was going to say, so why waste time?" he added.

Zelenskyy has promoted a 10-point blueprint for ending the war that would include a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory -- including Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014 -- and a special tribunal for accountability on war crimes.

Lavrov scoffed at Zelensky's plan and denounced the US and European Union for backing it.
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