The White House in Washington. File photoWASHINGTON, Apr 13U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to contact his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu less than a week ago, but was unsuccessful, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. , I think. Less than a week ago or so. Again, there was no interest from the Russians,» he said at a press briefing. >The Pentagon revealed the content of the new package of military assistance to UkraineThe Pentagon leadership says that attempts to get through to Russian colleagues — Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov — have been made since the beginning of the Russian military special operation in Ukraine, but each time to no avail. 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.
