Russia threatens West of 'global catastrophe' if weapons provided to Ukraine

MOSCOW: Giving offensive weapons to Ukraine will lead to a "global catastrophe," said Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, on Sunday.

"If Washington and NATO countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons," Volodin said on Telegram.

Meanwhile,looking at Russia's move towards victory over Ukraine, panic has arisen in Western countries including America. Just a week ago, Russia predicted to win over Ukraine. Since then, the Russian military has intensified its attack on Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers are being killed in the Russian attack or they are retreating from the front. This has led to the occupation of the cities of Ukraine by the Russian army one after another. Therefore, Western countries have agreed to give Ukraine powerful weapons again to save it from defeat. But this time, Russia has directly threatened the countries that help Ukraine.

Members of the U.S. Congress, the German Bundestag, the National Assembly of France and other European parliaments "must realize their responsibility to humanity," he said.

"With their decisions, Washington and Brussels are leading the world to a terrible war: to a completely different military action from today, when strikes are carried out exclusively on the military and critical infrastructure used by Kiev," Volodin said.

Russia says countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons are inviting catastrophe. It means that if any country gives powerful weapons to Ukraine, Russia will destroy it too. The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament warned on Sunday that countries providing more powerful weapons to Ukraine were risking their own destruction by doing so.

Following this message, the countries renewed their commitment to provide armored vehicles, air defense systems and other weapons to Ukraine, but Germany did not commit to supplying Leopard-2 battle tanks. The Leopard-2 issue appeared to be reaching a resolution on Sunday night, when German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her country would have no objection if Poland decided to give some of its Leopards to Ukraine.

Germany is among the main arms donors to Ukraine and has ordered a review of its Leopard 2 stockpile for a possible green flag, but the German government is cautiously taking every step toward increasing its commitment to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he does not rule out the possibility of sending Leclerc battle tanks to Ukraine and has asked his defense minister to "work" on the idea. Macron said this during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris. France and Germany are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the post-World War II friendship treaty.

France and Germany pledged their "unwavering support" to Ukraine in a joint declaration. Scholz did not respond to questions about the Leopard-2 tanks, but said his country was providing significant military assistance to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Matusz Morawiecki said that if Germany does not agree to give Ukraine Leopard tanks, his country is ready to form a "small alliance" with countries that will send their tanks.

"Given the technological superiority of Russian weapons, foreign politicians making such decisions need to understand that this could end in a global tragedy that will destroy their countries," he said.

On Friday, defense leaders from Western countries attended a meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where they pledged further military support to Ukraine but failed to iron out divisions on sending battle tanks.

At the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged defense leaders attending the meeting to speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine, the presidential press service reported.