Russia's Foreign Minister has said that the risks of nuclear conflict and World War Three are increasing.
On Monday Sergei Lavrov warned the West not to underestimate the elevated risks of nuclear conflict over Ukraine and said he viewed Nato as being "in essence" engaged in a proxy war with Russia by supplying Kyiv with weapons.
In a wide-ranging interview broadcast on state television, Lavrov also said that the core of any agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine would depend largely on the military situation on the ground.
The Vladimir Putin loyalist had been asked about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, a low point in U.S-Soviet relations.
Russia, Lavrov said, was doing a lot to uphold the principle of striving to prevent nuclear war at all costs.
"This is our key position on which we base everything. The risks now are considerable," Lavrov said.
"I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that."
“Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War Three,” said the" the hardline foreign minister added on Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) programme on state-run Channel 1 television.
“The threat is serious, it is real, and it should not be underestimated.”
Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad.
Moscow calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists - a claim that has been widely and consistently refuted by the Ukraine and its allies.
Lavrov, defending Moscow's actions, also blamed Washington for the lack of dialogue.
"The United States has practically ceased all contacts simply because we were obliged to defend Russians in Ukraine," Lavrov said, repeating the rationale for Moscow's invasion of its southern neighbour.
But he said Western supplies of sophisticated weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, armoured vehicles and advanced drones were provocative measures calculated to prolong the conflict rather than bring it to an end.
"These weapons will be a legitimate target for Russia's military acting within the context of the special operation," Lavrov said.
"Storage facilities in western Ukraine have been targeted more than once (by Russian forces). How can it be otherwise?" he added. "Nato, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war."
Lavrov added: "Contrary to our warnings they have been pumping weapons into Ukraine, encouraging in every way its Russophobic essence established under President (Petro) Poroshenko and strengthening under (Volodymyr) Zelensky."
Nato forces are “pouring oil on the fire ", he said.
“I would not want to see these risks artificially inflated now, when the risks are rather significant.”
He said that Kyiv authorities were not negotiating in good faith and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former actor, was like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in playing to the public rather than addressing the task at hand - negotiations.
"They are similar in a way in their ability to play to the gallery. For example, they imitate negotiations," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile the blame game continued on Russian TV programme Voskresnoye Vremya where data expert Dmitry Sidorin claimed an "information war against Russia has been planned not over the last month or two, but over the course of ten years".
He alleged: “The planning was conducted to a large degree on Britain’s instructions. That is known. The 77th ‘Psyops’ brigade…
“There is a similar 72nd brigade in Ukraine, in Kyiv - a well-known centre of psychological influence.
“The focus is on big, flashy stories…It's like a kind of Hollywood.”
Britain and its Ukrainian collaborators had staged the atrocities in Kramatorsk, Bucha, the Drama Theatre in Mariupol, and the maternity hospital in the same city, he claimed.
“It’s a Western force which is working on it,” he said.
Lavrov's alarming words and Sidorin's accusations came as Ben Wallace confirmed deadly Stormer trucks are on their way to the country.
The UK's defence secretary also told Parliament 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in the war, according to Britain's latest estimates.
He added that to date the UK has provided more than 5,000 anti tank missiles, five air defence systems with more than 100 missiles, 1,360 anti-structural munitions, and 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosives.
Britain has also sent over 90,000 ration packs, 10 pallets of medical equipment, 3,000 pieces of body armour, 77,000 helmets and 3,000 pairs of boots, he said.
Mr Wallace told the UK House of Commons: “All of Europe can now see the true face of President Putin and his inner circle.
“His intention is only to destroy, to crush, to rub out the free peoples of Ukraine. He does not want to preserve. He must not be allowed to prevail."
This morning British armed forces minister James Heappey dismissed Moscow's claims that Western allies of Ukraine were provoking a possible wider conflict by supplying Kyiv with arms.
He said it was not Nato as an organisation donating arms.
Mr Heappey told Sky News: "Sergei Lavorv might also reflect that the reason there is a war in Ukraine right now is because Russia rolled over the borders of a sovereign country and started to invade their territory.
"All of this noise from Moscow about somehow their attack on Ukraine being a response to Nato aggression is just utter, utter nonsense."
