The US is going to provide lethal anti-tank weapons to Ukraine to help it fight off separatists which have the backing of Russia, a senior State Department official told CNN.
The State Department officially announced Friday evening that the US was going to provide Ukraine with "enhanced defensive capabilities as part of our effort to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity, to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to deter further aggression," but the statement from spokeswoman Heather Nauert said it was not going to give any further details.
The State Department said the "US assistance is entirely defensive in nature, and as we have always said, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself."
Among the weapons being sent are US-made Javelin anti-tank missiles, the official said.
Members of Congress and the US-backed Ukrainian government had long requested anti-tank weapons to boost Kiev in its fight against Russian-backed separatists.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Saturday that the US decision to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons meant the United States "is clearly pushing [Ukraine] to new bloodshed."
In a statement, Ryabkov said, "American weapons can lead to new victims in our neighboring country, to which we cannot remain indifferent," adding, "the United States in a certain sense had crossed the line" and accused it of "fuelling the war" rather than acting as an intermediary.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, released a statement Saturday morning supporting the decision.
"President Trump's reported decision to provide Javelin anti-tank munitions to Ukraine marks another significant step in the right direction and sends a strong signal that the United States will stand by its allies and partners as they fight to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity," he wrote, adding, "... as I have long argued, providing defensive lethal assistance to Ukraine is not opposed to a peace in Ukraine -- it is essential to achieving it."
This is another development from the US that Russia was expected to criticize. Some experts told CNN that Russia could use this move as a pretext to take further action in Ukraine, after its invasion and annexation of the Crimea region in 2014.
The move comes amid a recent uptick in clashes between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists, and the same week the Trump administration announced it would permit sales of some small arms to Ukraine from US manufacturers.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had discussed the recent escalation in clashes in a phone call Friday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to an official readout issued by the Ukrainian government.
The statement says Poroshenko thanked Tillerson for "the prolongation of sanctions against Russia" and for "the consistent support of Washington regarding the increase of Ukraine's defense capacity."
The statement also said that "Tillerson emphasized that the US would further support Ukraine."
On Wednesday, the Trump administration had announced it was allowing the export of some small arms to Ukraine. Nauert said the department notified Congress on December 13 that it had approved an export license, which allows Ukraine to buy certain light weapons and small arms from US manufacturers.
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