The new U.S. special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker states that the possible supply of weapons to Ukraine to protect against Russian aggression cannot provoke Russia, because it has already concentrated a large military contingent in the occupied part of the Ukrainian territory. In an interview with Radio Liberty's Current Time on 25 July in Paris, Valker confirmed that the current US government is discussing the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
"First off, Russia is already in Ukraine, they are already heavily armed. There are more Russian tanks in there than [tanks] in Western Europe combined. It is a large, large military presence, an even larger contingent is concentrated at the borders of Ukraine," Volker said.
Volker recognized Russia's right to place as many weapons as it wants on its territory, but not on the territory of Ukraine.
"Russia has every right to do this, this is their territory, they can deploy as many military personnel as they want, so this decision will not provoke Russia to do what they have not done yet, and this cannot change the balance of power," he said.
Her said he believes that the administration of President Barack Obama did not approve the supply of arms to the Ukrainian authorities, despite that it was supported by both chambers of the Congress. However, the administration of President Donald Trump "revises" this decision to "give Ukraine the opportunity to defend itself."
"If we make such a decision, it will enable Ukraine to protect itself if Russia takes further steps on Ukrainian territory. Russia says it 'does not do anything like that' and is not going to do so, if so the supply of protective weapons does not carry any risk for anybody," Volcker added.
On Sunday Volker visited Donbas, where he called the fighting in the region "not a frozen conflict, but a hot war."