MOSCOW    -  The Kremlin has said that Ukraine will bear the consequences if third countries supply it with tanks, amid growing pressure on Germany to dispatch advanced weaponry to Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned the ongoing debate over sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine suggests that the “nervousness among the members of the alliance is constantly growing.”

“All the countries that directly or indirectly take part in the pumping [of Ukraine] with weapons and in raising their technological level, are all responsible for it,” Peskov said Monday.

The Ukrainian people will have to pay for this,” he added.

Berlin has been under fire for failing to reach an agreement with its key Western allies to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday that Germany would not stop Poland from sending Leopard 2 combat tanks to Ukraine if asked.  Russia previously warned of further escalation if more weapons were sent into Ukraine that will allow strikes on the Russian territory, saying it will “mean bringing the conflict to a new level.”

RUSSIA CLAIMS UKRAINE STORES WESTERN WEAPONS, AMMUNITION NEAR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) director claimed on Monday that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are storing Western-supplied weapons and ammunition on the territory of nuclear power plants. “This applies to the most expensive and scarce for the Armed Forces of Ukraine missiles for the HIMARS MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) and foreign air defense systems, as well as large-caliber artillery ammunition,” a statement by the SVR, quoting Sergey Naryshkin, read.

The statement claimed that several railway wagons of cargo were delivered from abroad through the Rafalivka railway station to the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant from abroad in the last week of December 2022 alon.