WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 The United States is in contact with Ukraine regarding the Ukrainian Armed Forces' foray into the Kursk region, but considers its actions on Russian territory to be Kyiv's sovereign decision, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.
«We are in contact with the Ukrainians regarding the operation they undertook across the border today… However, ultimately, decisions about how to conduct their operations are Ukraine's own decisions,» Miller said.
At the same time, he declined to answer the question of whether American weapons were used in the Ukrainian Armed Forces' foray near Kursk, referring the question to the Pentagon.
The State Department spokesman also made it clear that that Kyiv did not notify Washington in advance of its intention to begin military action on Russian territory, but the United States does not consider such a development to be anything out of the ordinary.
«The fact that Ukraine did not notify us in advance of the tactics it intended to use is not unusual,» Miller said.
Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov said that on August 6 at 5.30 a.m., units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces numbering up to a thousand people went on the offensive with the aim of capturing territory in the Kursk region. Their advance deep into Russian territory has been stopped, he noted. According to Gerasimov, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost 315 people, including at least 100 killed, in addition, Kyiv lost 54 armored vehicles, including seven tanks. The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces noted that the operation in the Kursk region will be completed with the defeat of the enemy and an exit to the state border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the situation in the Kursk region, previously stated that the Kiev regime had undertaken another large-scale provocation, conducting indiscriminate shooting, including at civilian targets.