As the United States moved to ship ever more advanced weapon systems to Ukraine to aid it in its fight to thwart Russia’s eastern offensive, Moscow said the latest move by President Biden threatened to escalate the war in dangerous ways.
Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said on Wednesday that delivering the weapons — the most powerful provided since the start of the war — was the United States “deliberately and painstakingly pouring gasoline on the fire.”
At the same time, some military experts said the U.S.’s insistence that Ukraine not fire into Russia with the weapons was an unfair check on the Ukrainian military.
“What it boils down to is we’re going to probably give Ukraine the most limited of the options as far as range,” Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the retired supreme allied commander for Europe, said at a virtual security event on Wednesday, referring to the rocket system. “That’s unfortunate.”
The latest round of support from allies will be critical in the battle for Ukraine’s east, which is turning into a duel of artillery bombardments followed by creeping, grinding advances by Russia.
On Wednesday, Russian forces advanced in street fighting in the ruins of the city of Sievierodonetsk, a target of their offensive. A local official said that Russian forces controlled most of the city but that Ukrainian soldiers were continuing to fight on the streets.
In other developments:
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Germany on Wednesday promised to supply Ukraine with two more potentially significant donations of heavy weapons: an air-defense system and tracking radar to help the Ukrainian army locate sources of Russian heavy artillery.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the war was most likely far from a conclusion, saying that based on current assessments, “We are still looking at many months of conflict.”
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Ukraine’s national soccer team defeated Scotland, 3-1, on Wednesday bringing the country within reach of its second World Cup appearance.
