Turkey pointed to the West's open choice of side in the Ukrainian conflict

TheUSA and Europe have openly taken sides in the Ukrainian conflict by sending weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on November 23.

"America and Europe, by sending weapons [to the AFU] from the very beginning, have created a situation where they have openly taken sides in this conflict," Fidan said while speaking to reporters in Ankara.

To top it all off, he added that there are economic and political struggles going on in the world, in addition to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin spoke about the risk of global war. Here we mean war in the broad sense of the term. This is what we have warned about as well. The continuation of war in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip is now deepening global fault lines and uniting certain players, and polarization is increasing," Fidan was quoted as saying by Haber7 TV.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Britain was playing a key role in the anti-Russian hybrid war. As an example, she cited the talks between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and current US President Joe Biden, specifying that these actions are proof that London supports Ukraine. Prior to that, the diplomat said that the West intends to continue the war against Russia. According to her, Western countries do not want peace.

The day before, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavskyy told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga about Prague's unwavering support for his country and promised to deliver 500,000 artillery shells to Kiev by the end of the year.

On 20 November, The Washington Post (WP) said that incumbent US President Joe Biden had authorized the delivery of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine in order to "deter the advance of Russian troops". WP recalled that he renewed the ban on the use of such mines in 2022, effectively reversing the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to defend Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022. The decision to conduct it was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin because of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the increased shelling by Ukrainian troops.