The White House is contacting Kyiv for information about Ukraine’s current troop incursion into Russia’s Koursk border region.
"We're going to reach out to the Ukrainian military to learn more about their objectives," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists when asked about the operation. She added that Washington supports “sensible” actions by Ukraine to halt the attacks by the Russian forces.
In May, US President Joe Biden authorised Kyiv to use American weaponry to strike targets in Russia, close to Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in the north-east, which was under a Russian attack.
However, US National Security Council’s spokesman John Kirby reiterated that “nothing has changed” in US policy, which opposes any further incursion by Ukraine into Russian territory.
Ukrainian troops launched the incursion into thr Koursk region on Tuesday, resulting in the evacuation of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border. Fighting continued into Wednesday.
State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller criticised a comment by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Ukranian offensive was a “large-scale provocation.”
"I have seen the statements from the Russian government. It is a little bit rich, them calling it a provocation, given Russia violated Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," he said at a briefing.
