US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby. File photoWASHINGTON, Mar 30 The US military is interested in contacting Russian counterparts, but they still do not answer the phone, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. He previously lamented that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley have been unsuccessfully trying to reach Moscow since the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine. China, the Pentagon said «There is still nothing to report in terms of conversations. We are still ready for them. But this is a two-way street. The Russians must be ready to pick up the phone, and so far they have not shown such readiness,» Kirby said at a briefing for SMI.Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
