US responsible for what is happening in Ukraine, it is to rebuild country — Russian envoy

Washington is responsible for what is happening in Ukraine and it is up to the US to rebuild the country, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday answering a media question.

The American administration "is fully responsible for what is happening in Ukraine," he noted when commenting on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement who said earlier on Wednesday at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London that Russia has to bear the cost of the country’s reconstruction. "That's why it is up to the United States to rebuild the country," Antonov was quoted as saying by the Russian embassy’s press service.

"The Ukrainian conflict is the result of years of deliberate efforts by the United States to create a hotbed of tensions at our borders, to turn Ukraine into 'anti-Russia'. Here they are trying to ignore the truth: by supporting the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev in 2014, Washington and the Western countries provoked the crisis, which has been going on for nine years. Now the United States is even more active in fomenting confrontation. It pumps the republic with powerful weapons and cuts down any peaceful initiatives in the bud," the Russian diplomat emphasized.

"Only, while it is still possible to pay for the houses, destroyed with the help of American weapons, how will then Washington evaluate the lives of innocent people? How is the United States going to settle accounts with the Ukrainians, whom they are driving into reckless frontal assaults in today's so-called counter-offensive?" Antonov noted.

The second Ukraine Recovery Conference opened on Wednesday in the UK’s capital city. According to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, over 1,000 guests from 61 countries as well as representatives from NGOs and business people are expected to attend the two-day conference.