Moscow on Monday summoned the German ambassador to protest Berlin’s support for Ukraine, as Kyiv ups its retaliatory strikes on Russia.
Ukraine has hit Russian energy infrastructure as far as the Urals and Siberia, triggering fuel shortages in the world’s third-biggest oil producer.
The German ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, was told of the “unacceptability of Germany’s mounting support for Kyiv… including the conclusion of military and military-technical agreements,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
It also protested what it called “direct arms deliveries, and the organisation of joint ventures”, saying these were intended to create “means for attacks on civilian targets in Russia.”
More than 90 percent of Russian regions have experienced fuel shortages since June, and some have introduced rationing at petrol stations and bans on filling jerry cans, according to local media reports and officials.
Ukraine has targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure throughout the four-and-a-half-year war, strikes it says are retaliation for Russian attacks on its civilians.
Kyiv appears to have increased its drone strike capacity and precision this year, hitting refineries as far away as Siberia’s Omsk region.
Berlin had earlier on Monday summoned the Russian ambassador over alleged cyber attacks, with the EU and Britain announcing sanctions over them.
Germany has been one of Ukraine’s main backers throughout Moscow’s offensive.
