Russia Issues New Threat About Ukraine War as Zelensky Heads to U.S.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Wednesday that a visit to Washington, D.C. by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will cause a "deepening" of the conflict, though numerous Russian experts told Newsweek that Peskov's comments lack merit.

Reuters reported that Peskov, a loyalist to President Vladimir Putin, said Zelensky's visit could backfire on Kyiv and further reduce the possibility of peaceful negotiations between the two countries.

"The supply of weapons continues and the range of supplied weapons is expanding," Peskov said. "All of this, of course, leads to an aggravation of the conflict. This does not bode well for Ukraine."

When asked whether Moscow had any expectations that something positive could come from Zelenskiy's trip, Peskov replied, "No."

Zelensky is expected to join President Joe Biden at the White House for the announcement of a "significant new package of security assistance," then address Congress at 7:30 tonight.

Although a U.S. Defense Department fact sheet released on November 10 said that more than $18.6 billion in American security assistance has been given to Ukraine since Russia's invasion on February 24, all financial aid for Ukraine's economy and humanitarian assistance between January 24 and November 20 totals about $48 billion, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Dr. Ivan Gomza, academic director of the Public Policy and Governance Program at the Kyiv School of Economics, told Newsweek that Peskov's "threatening rhetoric is devised to shatter support for arm and munitions supplies to Ukraine."

While menacing in theory, Gomza said Peskov is doing nothing but saber-rattling.

"Russia has already taken all conceivable military moves," Gomza said. "As with Russian threats to tackle Patriot systems if they are delivered to Ukraine, such promises are used to plant fear precisely because Russia cannot make anything substantial to avoid the undesirable development [for Moscow]."

Maria Popova, associate professor of political science at McGill University, told Newsweek that illegitimate and noncredible rhetoric has also come from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"Medvedev has positioned himself as an extremist, even unhinged, voice during the entire 10 months of the war," Popova said. "He regularly utters outlandish threats, and the goal is to unsettle and scare the West into stopping support for Ukraine.

"The fact is that Russia has acted on none of these threats and the Russian army has reacted rationally to each Ukrainian military victory with Western weapons—the Russians have retreated and revised their military strategy."

She also refuted Peskov's comment regarding a "deepening" of the conflict, adding that "there's not a sliver of ground" for current negotiations.

"Russia already wants to destroy Ukraine as a state and as a nation and Ukraine refuses to surrender," Popova said. "More weapons for Ukraine will only speed up the military resolution of the conflict and bring Russia to the negotiation table faster."

Keith Darden, associate professor in the School of International Service at American University, told Newsweek that more weapons provided by the U.S. to Ukraine might be considered an escalation only because of Russia being "unwilling to accept defeat."

"Russia already deepened the conflict by targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure," Darden said. "Russia will continue to escalate as needed until they lose the capacity to do so, and the supply of weapons to Ukraine hopefully has the medium-term end of diminishing Russian capacity to wage the war.

"There is still no path to peaceful settlement here, unfortunately."

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian governments for comment.