Kremlin: World should learn truth about Nord Stream blasts

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky poses next to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola as he arrives for a summit at EU parliament in Brussels Thursday. Pic/AFP

The world "must know the truth" about who was behind explosions affecting Nord Stream gas pipelines, and those responsible should be punished, the Kremlin spokesman said on Thursday, after a U.S. investigative journalist alleged U.S. involvement in last September's blasts.

Speaking to reporters, Dmitry Peskov also said the blog post by journalist Seymour Hersh should prompt an international investigation into the incidents. The White House on Wednesday dismissed the Hersh report, which said an attack on the pipelines was carried out last September at the direction of U.S. President Joe Biden.

The Kremlin also said on Thursday that it would be Ukrainians who suffered if Britain or other Western countries decided to send fighter jets to Kyiv. Asked to comment on a request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to London on Wednesday for Britain to send advanced fighter jets to Kyiv, Peskov said any deliveries would not change Moscow's approach to what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Also Read: Russia-Ukraine conflict: Zelenskyy addresses EU Parliament as he seeks more weapons

Zelensky on Thursday addressed the European Parliament as he seeks more military aid, saying Ukraine and the European Union are fighting together against Russia in his words "the most anti-European force" in the world. "Europe will always be, and remain Europe as long as we are together and as long as we take care of our Europe, as we take care of the European way of life," he said.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said allies should consider "quickly, as a next step, providing long range systems" and fighter jets to Ukraine. Metsola said the response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine "must be proportional to the threat, and the threat is existential."

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