'UK unable to break its habit of living at the expense of others': Russia's Duma speaker

Speaker of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament), Vyacheslav Volodin, stated on July 2 that the United Kingdom 'appears unable to break the habit of residing at the expense of others.'

The largest economy in the world at the time -- the UK -- accounted for 25% of global GDP, Volodin noted. 

"London seeks to convince Europe of the need to fight against Russia until the last Ukrainian, claiming that efforts to settle the conflict in Ukraine will only lead to growing instability in the world. The United Kingdom’s habit to live at the expense of others is the reason, which the country seems unable to break," Volodin wrote on Telegram.

He further added, "London tries to grab any chance to assert itself. One day it withdraws from the European Union, then the next day it seeks to build alliances with Russophobic regimes in Poland, the Baltic States and Ukraine, only to be a leader somewhere." Volodin went on to say that colonial revanchism will lead to nothing good and that the British Empire will perish forever.

Russia-Ukraine War

Meanwhile, powerful explosions shook the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. According to the mayor, the incident occurred on July 2, a day after authorities reported that at least 21 people were killed when Russian missiles struck an apartment building near the Black Sea port of Odessa. Explosions destroyed a section of an apartment building while residents were sleeping on July 1, the latest in a series of what Ukraine claims are Russian missile attacks on civilians.

In his nightly video address on July 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strikes as "conscious, deliberately targeted Russian terror, not some sort of error or coincidental missile strike." According to Kyiv, Moscow has increased its long-range missile attacks, which have been aimed at civilian targets far from the frontlines. Russia claims to have targeted military bases.

Furthermore, leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) met back-to-back last week, and the allies vowed to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as needed, framing Russia's invasion as a greater threat to peace and stability in Europe and beyond.

Image: AP