KIEV (Dispatches) – Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made his first visit to Kiev on Saturday, pledging to continue the ‘firm support’ for Ukraine that was a focus of policy under his predecessors.
“Britain knows what it means to fight for freedom,” Sunak said on Twitter. “We are with you all the way.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on Saturday of the two meeting in Kiev.
Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said in a comment to Newsweek the Ukrainian government is trying to trigger a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
“The Ukrainian authorities are not only begging Washington to provide more military assistance, but are also trying to provoke a direct military clash between the Russian Federation and NATO,” the embassy’s press service quoted the diplomat as saying, TASS reported.
Antonov went on to say that the West’s absurd attempts to shift responsibility for everything on Russia “can only provoke (Ukraine), which already feels permissiveness.”
A missile crashed in the village of Przewodow in eastern Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship close to the border with Ukraine on November 15, killing two people. Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday the missile was part of the Ukrainian air system.
The U.S. State Department said the U.S. has full confidence in the accuracy of conclusions made by Poland.
The Russian foreign ministry called statements by Kiev with respect to the incident a “gross provocation.” According to the Russian defense ministry, the missile was fired by a Ukrainian S-300 air defense system.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of committing a war crime after a video surfaced on social media, on Friday, which appears to show captured Russian servicemen first alive and subsequently dead.
The footage depicts soldiers dressed in Russian uniforms first surrendering to troops in uniforms bearing Ukrainian insignia before being shown lying on the ground, presumably dead, RT reported.
The ministry described the video as evidence of “the deliberate and methodical murder” of over ten Russian servicemen at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who “shot them straight in their heads”.
Such actions prove the “barbaric nature” of the government in Kiev led by Zelensky, as well as “all those, who defend and support it”, the statement added.
The video also purports to show one of the supposed Russian soldiers opening fire on the Ukrainians as his fellow servicemen already lie on the ground with their hands behind their heads. At least one of Kiev’s fighters was allegedly injured in the incident, according to the footage. It is unclear how this particular episode was linked to what happened to the Russians next.