Explosions at an ammunition depot in Crimea
Putin accuses the United States of prolonging the conflict in Ukraine
Firefighters and ambulances in the town of Cankoy after the explosion of an ammunition depot yesterday.
Reuters
Russian Defense Minister: "Russia does not need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine."
picture
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is trying to prolong the conflict, while yesterday's explosions occurred at an ammunition depot in Crimea, which Russia annexed, blocking railway lines, in the latest incident of its kind in the region that has been annexed by Russia. Moscow uses it as a starting point in its war in Ukraine.
Moscow's chief representative in the region, Sergei Aksyonov, confirmed that two people had been injured, railway traffic had stopped and about 2,000 people had been evacuated from a village near the military depot, but he avoided talking about the cause of the explosions, while the Russian Defense Ministry said the explosions were caused by "acts of sabotage."
Last week's explosions at a military air base in the city of Novedorivka on the western coast of Crimea caused extensive damage and destroyed several Russian warplanes.
Footage broadcast by Russian state television showed a sub-station on fire near the town of Zhankoy in yesterday's accident, and television broadcast footage of large explosions, which the authorities said were the result of the detonation of the munitions.
In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States yesterday of raising tension in Asia, describing the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan as a "precisely planned provocation."
Addressing a security conference in Moscow, Putin also referred to the "Ocos" security agreement between Australia, Britain and the United States as evidence of Western attempts to establish a NATO-style alliance in the Asia-Pacific region.
Putin said that "Pelosi's visit this month to Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, was not just an individual visit from an irresponsible politician, but was part of an American strategy to destabilize and sow chaos in the region and the world," as he described it.
“The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is trying to prolong this conflict.
They act in the same way, raising the possibility of conflicts in Asia, Africa and Latin America.”
In addition, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia does not need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
In a speech at the Moscow International Security Conference, he added that the operations of the Ukrainian army are being planned by the United States and Britain, and that NATO has increased the deployment of its forces in Eastern and Central Europe several times.
The Russian Defense Minister discussed the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that Shoigu and Guterres also exchanged views on the work of the fact-finding mission on the incident in a prison in the town of Linovka in Donetsk, where a number of Ukrainian prisoners were killed, and the ministry added that the two sides also discussed the United Nations initiative on facilitating the export of foodstuffs and fertilizers. Russian.
Russian news agencies quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying that any visit by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear plant cannot pass through Kyiv, because the matter is very dangerous.
The Deputy Head of the Department of Nuclear Proliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Igor Vishnevitsky, was quoted by the RIA news agency as telling reporters: “Imagine what it means to pass through Kyiv... This means that they will reach the nuclear plant through the front line. This is a great danger, given the The Ukrainian armed forces do not all operate in the same way.
On the other hand, the United Nations rejected Russian accusations that it is preventing the visit of nuclear experts to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The Vienna-based nuclear program operates independently of the United Nations.” He noted that the United Nations has the security and logistical capacity in Ukraine to support the visit, and stressed that there should be an agreement with both Russia and Ukraine on the visit.
• The United Nations rejects the Russian accusations of preventing the visit of experts to the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news