Russia: More NATO involvement in Ukraine will lead to 'unpredictable escalation'

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has warned that further involvement by NATO member states in the Ukraine war would lead to "unpredictable escalation."

In a conference call with military officials on Tuesday, Shoigu said the deliveries of Western arms to Kiev were drawing NATO states into the conflict in Ukraine, warning that the move could eventually lead to "an unpredictable escalation."

"The US and its allies are trying to prolong the conflict as much as possible. To do this, they have started supplying heavy offensive weapons, openly urging Ukraine to seize our territories. In fact, such steps are dragging NATO countries into the conflict and could lead to an unpredictable level of escalation," the Russian defense minister said.

Russia launched what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, over the perceived threat of the ex-Soviet republic joining NATO. Since then, the United States and Ukraine's other allies have sent Kiev tens of billions of dollars' worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems.

Western countries have also imposed a slew of economic sanctions on Moscow. The Kremlin has said the sanctions and the Western military assistance will only prolong the war.

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Back in September last year, Russia annexed the four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia after votes were held there on falling under Russian rule.

Moscow considers those regions Russian territory but Russian forces have not managed to take the regions under their full control. In fact, much of the territory in the Russian-annexed regions still remains in Ukrainian hands.

Ukraine and its Western allies consider the votes to have been a "sham."

Shoigu's allusion to "our territories" in his remarks on Tuesday appeared to be a reference to the four annexed regions of Ukraine.

The Kremlin says the West and NATO are playing a direct role in the Ukraine conflict by pouring advanced weapons and military equipment into the country, warning that NATO weapons are "legitimate targets" for its armed forces.

The US, the country offering the highest financial and military support for Ukraine, has sent over $20 billion worth of military aid to the war-hit country since the onset of war, and is also set to provide Kiev with longer-range rockets as part of a fresh $2-billion package of weapons announced last week.

This is while Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who is also a former president of Russia, said last week that supplying more US weaponry to Ukraine would add fuel to the fire, culminating in more retaliatory strikes by Russian forces.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say Moscow is accumulating arms and reserves for a renewed assault in the coming weeks.

For the past several months, fighting has been focused around the Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk Province, which Russia has been trying to encircle.

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Elsewhere in his comments on Tuesday, Shoigu said that military operations near Bakhmut were "progressing well."

"Military operations are at the moment progressing with success in the areas around Vuhledar and Artemovsk," he noted, using a Russian name for Bakhmut.

He also listed seven settlements that he said Russian troops had recently "liberated," including the salt-mining town of Soledar that came under Russian control in January.

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