Kirby says Ukraine is not violating U.S. weapon use restrictions in Russia
Ukrainian forces are not violating restrictions on the use
of American weapons in Russia, John Kirby, the White House National Security
Council communications advisor, stated on Aug. 9.
“They are using it (American weapons) in the zone where we
previously said they could use U.S. weapons for cross-border strikes. The
ultimate goal here is to help Ukraine defend itself, and we’ll just see what
Ukraine says about it,” Kirby told Voice
of America.
Kirby also emphasized that discussions about military
operations should come from Ukraine, while the White House remains in contact
with Ukrainian officials.
“I think I’ll leave room here to allow Ukraine to discuss
its military operations in one way or another. We are staying in touch with our
Ukrainian colleagues and working to better understand what they are doing, what
their goals are, and what their strategy is,” Kirby said in response to a
reporter’s question about whether the U.S. allows Kyiv to conduct cross-border
counterattacks.
Asked to characterize the situation on the battlefield in
Kursk Oblast, Kirby replied:
“We are staying in touch with our Ukrainian colleagues, and
I would refrain from describing what is happening on the battlefield until
these conversations are concluded, and we have a better understanding of what
exactly they are doing.”
On Aug. 7, Kirby had mentioned that U.S. officials would
contact their Ukrainian counterparts to “clarify the situation” in Kursk Oblast. He noted that the U.S. had not yet received information from Ukrainian
officials about the events there.
Kirby also confirmed that the U.S. has not changed its
decision regarding Ukraine’s use of American weapons against Russian aggression
near the borders.
Kursk Oblast raid
On Aug. 6, Russian propagandists claimed that Ukrainian
forces had allegedly penetrated the Sudzha district of Kursk Oblast. The
Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed combat operations in the region. Russian
Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov asserted that Ukraine had
allegedly sent around 1,000 troops equipped with Western Stryker armored
vehicles, tanks, drones, air defense systems, and electronic warfare equipment.
The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the
events.
On Aug. 8, The Washington Post, citing an advisor to
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reported that Ukraine had supposedly taken
control of the Sudzha gas measurement station in Kursk Oblast.
According to DeepState, Ukrainian forces captured three
villages and surrounded the Sudzha checkpoint on the first day of the raid.
On Aug. 9, Igor Korpunkov, the mayor of Kurchatov, stated
that battles were ongoing several dozen kilometers from the city, where the
Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located. At the same time, a video emerged online
showing what appeared to be Ukrainian forces reporting the capture of the
Russian city of Sudzha in Kursk Oblast.
Another
video released on Aug. 9 showed over ten destroyed Russian military vehicles,
mostly trucks, and the bodies of soldiers. The video’s author claimed it was
filmed in the village of Oktyabrske. Russian Z-bloggers also reported on the
destroyed military convoy, allegedly after a strike by Ukrainian forces.
OSINT analysts speculated that the strike location was about
30 kilometers from the border and 20 kilometers from the village of Koreneve —
the closest point where, according to Russian pro-war bloggers, fighting was
occurring.
Later,
the BBC Verify Russian service confirmed that the video of the destroyed
Russian convoy was filmed near the village of Oktyabrske, close to Rylsk.
On
Aug. 10, Yuriy Butusov, the chief editor of Censor.NET, reported, citing
the Khorne Group of the 116th Separate Mechanized Brigade, that 490 “KIA” were
counted in the destroyed convoy.
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