Western-Ukrainian military bloc already exists de facto — Kherson Region lawmaker

GENICHESK, April 21. /TASS/. A new military alliance between Western countries and Ukraine already exists de facto and is waging a war against Russia, Yury Barbashov, a lawmaker in the Kherson Region, told TASS. On April 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the United States and Europe are promoting the idea of establishing a new military bloc with Ukraine in the lead. According to him, Washington seeks to shift the main responsibility for containing Russia onto Europe, so it can have "its hands free" in the Chinese direction. "An anti-Russian military bloc involving Ukraine, the creation of which was mentioned by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, unfortunately already exists de facto. It is this bloc that is effectively waging war against Russia, with the goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on our country. This is the reality we are already living in," Barbashov said. "The initial depletion of European countries’ arsenals of weapons and equipment in favor of Ukraine, and the full transformation now being observed of these countries into the military rear of the Ukrainian front, as well as the allocation of enormous funds for the war at a time of Europe’s economic crisis, suggest that this bloc has long existed," he noted.