Ramstein Meeting 'the Worst' for Ukraine — Zakharova

The diplomat noted that now only the British have decided to pledge aid

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Valery Sharifulin/TASS

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. The February 12 meeting of the contact group on arms supplies to Ukraine in the Ramstein format was the worst for Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated.

It was the first time when the British defense minister led the meeting instead of the Pentagon head.

"In effect, he thereby emphasized his willingness to step into the role of the "main conductor" of the West's war with Russia by the hands of Ukrainians. However, it seems that Western strategists have significant problems. This shift should be considered simply as an element of a chess maneuver," she said.

"As Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant to the US Department of Defense, pointed out in an interview with Politico on February 6, Britain can coordinate assistance to Ukraine, but there will be no funding, which means there will be no substantial aid, he said, without the United States. However, there was talk on the sidelines of Ramstein that Wednesday's meeting turned out to be the worst for Ukraine," Zakharova said.

She said that "if anyone in the West has at least a drop of pity for Ukraine as a state, for Ukrainians as a people, for the inhabitants of this territory as citizens of Ukraine, they will probably spare them and will not do everything to destroy them all <...> After all, this is exactly what Zelensky aimed at, again, with this very Western money," she stated.

The diplomat noted that now only the British have decided to pledge aid.

"They promised to allocate $186 million. For Kiev, which is killing its own citizens, this is, of course, a drop in the bucket, since it spends over $3 billion every month just to hold the front line. Just do the math: more than $30 billion a year is what Ukraine would need," she said.

"How much money could be used to build factories, schools, and hospitals for the citizens of Ukraine, how much could be invested in new technologies, in solving everyday, pressing issues, not even in the field of high-tech, but simply solving everyday, pressing, communal problems in Ukraine? How many roads, bridges, and airports could be built. But no. The fate of Ukraine was destined to be different from the point of view of the West. The fate of Ukrainians was handled differently in the West."