Russia Demands U.S. Pay Reparations for Helping Ukraine in War

Moscow's envoy in Washington, D.C. has demanded that the U.S. pays reparations for helping Ukraine in the war.

The Biden administration "is fully responsible for what is happening in Ukraine," Russian ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Wednesday.

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused NATO allies of becoming involved in the conflict by sending Ukraine weapons, providing its troops with training, and assisting with military intelligence. Moscow has accused members of the military alliance of crossing red lines by assisting Ukraine in the ongoing war, which was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022.

According to state-run news agency Tass, Antonov was responding to remarks made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier that day at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, jointly hosted by the United Kingdom and Ukraine in London, that Russia has to bear the cost of Ukraine's reconstruction.

"The Ukrainian conflict is the result of years of deliberate efforts by the United States to create a hotbed of tensions at our borders, to turn Ukraine into 'anti-Russia,'" Antonov said.

"Here they are trying to ignore the truth: by supporting the anti-constitutional coup in Kyiv in 2014, Washington and the Western countries provoked the crisis, which has been going on for nine years," the envoy continued.

"Now the United States is even more active in fomenting confrontation. It pumps the republic with powerful weapons and cuts down any peaceful initiatives in the bud."

During the conference, attended by delegates from more than 60 countries, Blinken said on Wednesday that the U.S. would provide Ukraine with an additional $1.3 billion in aid, including more than $500 million to repair and modernize the country's energy infrastructure, which has been targeted for months by Russian strikes.

The new funding announcement is in addition to the approximately $63 billion in U.S. assistance provided to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began, a spokesperson for Blinken said in a statement.

"Only, while it is still possible to pay for the houses, destroyed with the help of American weapons, how will then Washington evaluate the lives of innocent people? How is the United States going to settle accounts with the Ukrainians, whom they are driving into reckless frontal assaults in today's so-called counter-offensive?" Antonov said.

The diplomat added: "That's why it is up to the United States to rebuild the country."

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned in December that members of the NATO military alliance providing Ukraine with assistance could be "legitimate military targets."

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