The top U.S. general said on Thursday that the U.S. has been asking Ukraine for a long time not to use U.S. military weapons to attack inside Russian territory. This comes after Russia said that pro-Ukrainian militia used U.S. armored vehicles.
Army General Mark Milley, who is in charge of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that his office was looking into pictures on social media of trucks and military equipment used by militia in the Russian region of Belgorod when they crossed into Ukraine on Monday.
Milley told a news conference at the Pentagon, “I can’t tell you with absolute certainty right now whether that is U.S.-supplied equipment or not, what the nature of the attack was, or who did what to whom.”
“I can’t say that for sure right now, but I can say that we’ve asked the Ukrainians not to use U.S.-made weapons to attack Russia directly.”
The Russian defense ministry showed footage of some damaged vehicles. Some of the vehicles were made in the United States, like Humvee military trucks. Reuters was able to confirm where the damaged cars and other things in the video were, but they couldn’t tell when it was shot.
The Belgorod raid was claimed by two armed anti-Kremlin groups made up of Russians, some of whom are far-right figures. The Ukrainian government said it had nothing to do with the raid.
Ukraine has said in the past that it won’t use the longer-range weapons that the US has promised to give it to hit Russian territory. Instead, it will only use those weapons to attack Russian units on Ukrainian land that they have occupied.
Milley said that limiting U.S. aid to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February 2022 was done to help Kyiv defend itself against Russian troops already in Ukraine.
“What gives? We don’t want it because this is a war with the Ukraine. The United States and Russia are not at war. Milley said, “It’s not a war between NATO and Russia.”
Questions about Ukrainian use of U.S.-made weapons came up after President Joe Biden supported teaching Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, which Russia had warned the West not to do.
When asked about the use of U.S.-made equipment by the rebels, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, told reporters on Wednesday that it was no secret that more and more equipment was being sent to the Ukrainian military.
Biden said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave him a “flat assurance” that he would not use F-16 fighter jets from the West to go into Russia.
-
-
-
-
