France and Germany have armed Russia with nearly 300 million worth of military equipment that is ldquolikely being used in Ukrainerdquo according to
France and Germany have armed Russia with nearly $300 million worth of military equipment that is «likely being used in Ukraine,» according to an exclusive report, based on European Commission data, in The Telegraph, a British newspaper. The hardware was sent, the newspaper reports, despite a European Union-wide embargo on arms to Russia that was imposed following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Germany has defended the sales, saying the items were ‘dual-use’ equipment and that Russia had said they were needed for civilian, not military use. The newspaper said the equipment sent to Russia included «bombs, rockets, missiles and guns.» French firms also sent «thermal imaging cameras for more than 1,000 Russian tanks as well as navigation systems for fighter jets and attack helicopters,» The Telegraph reported. At least 10 EU member states have sent almost $380 million worth of military equipment to Russia, The Telegraph reported, with 78% of that total coming from French and German companies. Other European countries that sold arms to Russia include Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Italy, according to The Telegraph. Cristian Terhes, a Romanian member of the European parliament shared with The Telegraph the EU analysis of the probe into what countries have sold military goods to Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday seized on remarks by a Russian general as evidence that Moscow would invade other countries if it succeeded in Ukraine. The general had said Russia aimed to capture all of southern and eastern Ukraine and link it to a breakaway province in neighboring Moldova. ‘This only confirms what I have already said multiple times: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning,’ Zelenskyy said in his evening address Friday. Latest Developments in Ukraine: April 23 He said comments earlier Friday by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, show that Russia will not stop with Ukraine. Russian state news agencies quoted Minnekayev as saying that Moscow wanted to seize Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region, provide a land corridor to link with the Crimean Peninsula, and capture the country’s entire south as far west as a Russian-occupied breakaway region of Moldova.
