MOSCOW — In an ominous warning shot across the bow, Russia’s defense chief said Tuesday his forces will ramp up strikes on Ukrainian warehouses stocked with weapons from the West — a potential escalation as the United States prepares a massive new $61 billion military aid package for Kyiv.
The blunt remarks from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu seemed aimed at heading off delivery of the latest American arms promised to Ukraine, including vital ammunition supplies, air defense interceptors and, crucially, long-range truck-mounted ATACMS missiles that could put Russian supply lines in the crosshairs.
Addressing defense officials in Moscow, Mr. Shoigu issued a taunting rebuke of Western military support for Ukraine, claiming Russian forces have “dispelled the myth of the superiority of Western weapons” and seized the battlefield initiative after more than 14 months of war.
“In proportion to the threats posed by the U.S. and its allies, we will continue retooling our armed forces, ramping up production of our most potent weapons and gear,” the defense chief warned, adding with a chill: “We will intensify strikes on logistics centers and depots for Western arms in Ukraine.”
The artillery demander’s bellicose words – raising the specter of expanded Russian bombings across Ukraine – landed as the House voted Saturday to approve the latest, and largest, U.S. security assistance for Kyiv following months of debate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the package includes the long-awaited ATACMS missiles, a potential game-changer giving his forces long-range strike capability.
Shoigu repeated Moscow’s claims of incremental battlefield gains, asserting Russia has captured villages like Novomykhailivka after months of grinding combat in the eastern Donbas region, despite Kyiv’s denials. Wild!
The Russian defense ministry released slick video it insisted showed its marines seizing a haul of Western weaponry – U.S.-made Javelins, Swedish rockets, NATO electronics – after taking Novomykhailivka. While Reuters could not verify the footage, its imagery analysis confirmed the location.
With the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 seesawing through attritional combat and heavy losses, both Russia and Ukraine are locked in an arms race, racing to restock dwindling munitions from global suppliers as each side masses for possible spring offensives.
But Moscow has demanded the West halt the weapons pipeline – branding it de facto entry into the conflict – even as Putin’s generals rely on Iranian drones and North Korean shells. Now Russia’s saber-rattling signals potential escalation of its bombing blitz across Ukraine.
