Russia has declared that a Cold War is over and a 'fiery' conflict with the West is now under way.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was asked at a briefing whether the nation was in a second Cold War with the West with a new Iron Curtain being drawn thanks to the sheer number of drones deployed on Ukraine's frontlines.
Zakharova bluntly stated: 'I would disagree with the comparison with the Cold War. We are already in another form of conflict.
'There has been no cold here for a long time; there is already fire here.'
The war in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest since World War Two, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Though some efforts towards peace have been made, with Russian despot Vladimir Putin meeting US president Donald Trump in Alaska just under two months ago for talks, tensions between the Kremlin and the West have risen.
Despite the talks, Russian forces have made significant advancements in Ukraine, Russian drones are allegedly flying in Nato airspace and now Washington is seriously considering direct participation in the war by striking deep into the world's biggest nuclear power.
Zakharova, when asked about European accusations that Russia has intruded into Nato airspace, carried out sabotage operations and hacked key installations, said that the unfounded accusations showed that the EU and Nato were preparing 'provocations' against Moscow.
'All their statements indicate - first, that they are preparing a chain of provocations. Second, that they need to justify their military budgets,' Zakharova said.
Former US President Joe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the Ukraine war as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.
President Vladimir Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging Nato and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.
It comes as French president Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to take a more aggressive stance against Russia by shooting down drones that enter European airspace and boarding shadow fleet ships illicitly transporting oil to deprive Moscow of war revenue.
Speaking at a European summit in Copenhagen, Macron and other European leaders called for more sanctions against Russia - notably targeting its energy sector - and emphasized that Ukraine is on the front line in a widening hybrid war against Europe.
Indeed, the positions of some of Europe's leaders toward the continuing drone incidents, acts of sabotage, cyber-attacks and sanction-busting appear to have hardened over two days of talks in Copenhagen, including a closed session among them without phones or advisors.
Macron urged the more than 40 leaders at the European Political Community summit to simply protect their interests without signalling their intentions to Putin.
'I think the main answer should be more unpredictability and more strategic ambiguity,' he said.
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