Kremlin denies Putin threatened Britain
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Ukraine seeks modern tanks as Western allies remain in standoff
Western allies including Poland and Germany remain in a standoff as Ukraine asks for tanks to aid in the fight against Russia in eastern Ukraine.
Claire Hardwick, Associated Press
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a veiled threat to fire a missile at the United Kingdom is not true, the Kremlin said Monday.
Johnson, in a BBC interview released hours earlier, said the interaction came in a phone call about three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“He threatened me at one point,” Johnson said, adding that Putin said: “‘I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile it would only take a minute,’ or something like that.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had only pointed out that if Ukraine joined NATO, the deployment of NATO or American missiles near Russian borders would mean any missile would be able to reach Moscow in several minutes.
Peskov said Johnson’s account was untrue, “or, to be more precise, it was a lie.” Johnson deliberately lied or didn’t understand what Putin was saying, Peskov said.
Other developments:
►France and Australia announced plans to jointly produce and deliver thousands of 155-millimeter artillery shells to Ukraine.
►New U.S. ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy has met with a Russian deputy foreign minister, the U.S. Embassy announced. No details of the discussion were announced. Tracy arrived in Moscow last week.
►Ukraine denied Russian claims that its forces captured a village that could serve as a crucial step for circling Bakhmut. A heated battle for control of the city of 70,000 people has raged for weeks.
Ukraine was mourning the death of decorated fighter pilot Maj. Murashko Danil Gennadyevich, who reportedly died Friday in a crash while flying his crippled plane away from a neighborhood after a clash with enemy aircraft.
“Seeing the settlement of Shabelkivka nearby, the pilot despite the low flight height tried to drive the plane away from residential buildings until the last second” rather than eject to safety, the military said in a statement. The Ukraine military said Gennadyevich was credited with 141 sorties since the war began less than a year ago, destroying more than 70 armored vehicles and 30 fuel tankers.
He will be awarded the honor “Hero of Ukraine.”
Ukraine forces are facing “very tough” combat in the crucial Donetsk region and desperately need delivery of weapons promised by the West, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned.
Key cities such as Bakhmut are under constant attack as Russian forces relentlessly try to break through Ukraine’s defense “despite numerous casualties,” Zelenskyy said. Putin has claimed annexation of the region.
The U.S. and Germany agreed last week to supply Ukraine with modern tanks, and training has already begun. But those tanks remain weeks or months away from the battlefield. Zelenskyy urged the United States, Germany, Poland, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Italy and other countries to expedite deliveries of all weapons and ammunition.
“Russia hopes to drag out the war, to exhaust our forces,” he said. “We have to make time our weapon. We must speed up the events, speed up the supply and opening of new necessary weaponry options for Ukraine.”
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic criticized Western nations for supplying Ukraine with heavy tanks and other weapons, saying it will only prolong the war. He questioned why, a year into the war, tanks are now being approved for Ukraine. And he said German tanks will take months to arrive, and U.S. tanks could take a year.
Dragging out the war is costly to Europe while “America pays the least,” he said. He questioned whether a nation with nuclear weapons can be defeated with conventional weapons.
“What is the goal? Disintegration of Russia, change of the government? There is also talk of tearing Russia apart,” he said. “This is mad.”
Contributing: The Associated Press