MOSCOW: Moscow yesterday said Washington was encouraging “new bloodshed” in eastern Ukraine by its decision to provide Kiev with “enhanced defensive capabilities”, reports AFP.

In a strongly-worded statement deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the United States of “crossing the line” and fomenting the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a region known locally as Donbass.

“Kiev revanchists are shooting at Donbass every day, they don’t want to conduct peace negotiations and dream of doing away with the disobedient population. And the United States has decided to give them weapons to do that.” “Today the United States clearly pushes (Ukrainian authorities) towards new bloodshed,” Ryabkov added. “American weapons can lead to new victims in our neighbour,” he said in the statement. Another deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, said the US move would undermine efforts to reach a political settlement for Ukraine.

“Essentially this decision undermines the work to implement the 2015 Minsk agreements,” Karasin told TASS state news agency, referring to a Western-brokered peace deal.

He said Washington chose to support “the party of war” in Kiev. “This is unacceptable,” he added.

He reiterated Russia’s position that Ukrainian authorities should negotiate with Kremlin-backed rebels through “honest and direct dialogue.” “There is no other way to solve the internal Ukrainian conflict,” he said. The US State Department announced Friday that Washington had “decided to provide Ukraine enhanced defensive capabilities as part of our effort to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity.”

An ABC news report before the announcement said the US planned to supply Ukraine with anti-tank missiles, including possibly the advanced Javelin system, quoting four State Department officials.