Ukraine welcomes US resolution on arms shipments
Kiev (dpa) - A US resolution in favour of arms shipments to Ukraine was welcomed Tuesday by the government in Kiev and condemned as a call for war by Russian lawmakers in Moscow.
"I thank US House of Representatives for a resolution calling to provide Ukraine with military assistance. Important that it is bipartisan," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Twitter.
A resolution passed Monday in Washington urges the Barack Obama administration to provide "lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine before it is too late" and criticises the "tepid" US response to Ukraine's request for military aid.
The resolution, which is not legally binding, argues that "Russian President Vladimir Putin's forcible takeover of Crimea last year emboldened him to expand his aggression in eastern Ukraine."
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, refused to comment on the resolution. But Alexei Pushkov, the hawkish chairman of the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, warned that Moscow would react if the United States decides to send arms.
"This would be a massive rise in the level of confrontation," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Duma deputy Frants Klintsevich warned that arms shipments would kill off the Minsk peace agreements and that the resolution amounts to "a direct call for war."
Ukrainian politicians, in contrast, reiterated their call for
military aid.
"We do need this precision weaponry and our armed forces in the south in particular need to be modernized," Refat Chubarov, the leader of the Crimean Tatars, told a committee of the European Parliament.
Chubarov urged lawmakers not to forget Crimea and demanded that the Western sanctions be linked to Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
"The war against Ukraine started with the occupation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine may only be ceased with the liberation of Crimea," he said.
Since April, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
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Ukraine will mark May 8 as a Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation for those who lost their lives during World War II.
Culture Minister Vyacheslav Kyrylenko told reporters on March 24 that "like all European nations, we will commemorate those who lost their lives during the war," adding that all Ukrainians who fought for Ukraine's independence "deserve honor and remembrance."
Kyrylenko said that May 9 will be marked as Victory Day as usual.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian lawmaker Ivan Krulko told the Interfax news agency that May 8 would remain a working day and May 9 might be turned into a working day as well.
Ukraine's move is a significant shift from traditional celebrations of Victory Day on May 9.
Russia and many other former Soviet republics commemorate the May 9 anniversary with parades and celebrations and have officially declared it a day off from work.
Many Western European countries celebrate the end of World War II on Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), which falls on May 8.
The Kremlin has portrayed the ouster of Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 as a U.S.-supported coup by fascists, and compares the pro-Western government now in power in Kyiv to Nazis.
(tsn.ua, UNIAN, Interfax)