MOSCOW, March 23 – RIA Novosti. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, gave a long interview to leading Russian media, including RIA Novosti. He said during the conversation that Ukraine is part of Russia, but for geopolitical reasons and because of the history of the Russian Federation, he has long endured the fact that the countries live in “different circles”.

Also, the politician said that if Germany decides to abide by the ICC’s decision to “arrest” Russian President Vladimir Putin, it would be tantamount to a declaration of war, and then all Russian “funds” would fly to the Bundestag.

Russian troops destroyed more than 250 Ukrainian soldiers in one day in the direction of Donetsk, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday. An ammunition depot of the 53rd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian army was destroyed near the settlement of Lastochkino.

The ministry also said that the grouping of the “Centre” of the Russian Armed Forces in the Krasnolimansk direction destroyed more than 80 Ukrainian soldiers and six equipment per day. The grouping of the Russian Armed Forces “Zapad” in the Kupyansk direction destroyed in one day up to 70 Ukrainian soldiers and five equipment, including the American M777 howitzer. The grouping of Russian troops “Vostok” destroyed up to 50 Ukrainian soldiers per day in the Yuzhno-Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions. Up to 15 Ukrainian soldiers and five vehicles were destroyed daily in the Kherson direction.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian warplanes shot down a Ukrainian Su-24 bomber in the Kharkiv region. In addition, 16 drones and five HIMARS MLRS shells were shot down in the LPR, DPR, Kharkiv and Kherson areas. The Russian army in the Zaporozhye region destroyed the fuel and lubricant depot of the Ukrainian 65th mechanized brigade.

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that the US-led Western countries decided to supply depleted uranium munitions to Kiev, irrevocably bringing the world to a dangerous line beyond which nuclear Armageddon is becoming increasingly clear.

This is how a senior Russian diplomat interpreted Washington’s previous statements that depleted uranium munitions are a common weapon used for several decades and do not pose an increasing danger.

In contrast, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that London’s supply of depleted uranium-containing bullets to Kiev could adversely affect the export of agricultural products from Ukraine, as no one wants to import products with radioactive contamination.

Medvedev also said that if Ukraine joins NATO, Russia will have a neighbor that is part of a hostile bloc and will produce nuclear weapons. According to him, Ukraine, after joining NATO, may launch an all-out operation against Russia because of Crimea, but Moscow cannot accept this. Talking about China’s plan for a peaceful solution in Ukraine, the politician said that its implementation requires a desire, it should be studied not only in Moscow, but also in Washington and Kiev, but at the moment this is not the case.

He also noted that drones are certainly important in the current conflict in Ukraine, but would certainly be shattered if Russia did not have the upper hand in the field of strategic nuclear forces. According to the deputy head of the Security Council, if Russia had approached this conflict with other armed forces and the military-industrial complex, “then we could not have done anything.” In his opinion, the HIMARS MLRS is quite a valuable weapon, but Russia has no worse weapon with the same and better accuracy and depth of destruction. He said that Russian T-90M tanks are now the best in the world, their tactical and technical data are superior to Western Leopard, Challenger, Abrams.

Slovakia’s Defense Minister Yaroslav Nagy said Slovakia delivered its first four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine on Thursday. He thanked everyone involved in this process and confirmed that the remaining fighters will be transferred to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

In response, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the US plans to supply Ukraine with Abrams tanks from the Pentagon and manufacture new ones as originally intended. The Pentagon had previously announced that it would take about a year to ship three dozen Abrams M1A2s, while it would be possible to prepare tanks of the M1A1 modification for transfer by the fall without serious losses in combat capabilities.

At the same time, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said Washington would have to double its already record defense budget if events in Ukraine led to the collapse of the post-war world order and the start of a major power conflict.

At the same time, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States is open to constructive diplomacy with Russia to end the Ukraine conflict if Moscow shows signs of its readiness for such interaction. Thus, the head of American diplomacy answered the question of what efforts Washington is making today to end the conflict in Ukraine. As Blinken emphasized, Washington no longer sees signs from Moscow that it is ready to complete the special operation in Ukraine.