US 'not at war' with Russia, denies supplying Kiev with intelligence
US Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder claims that the US has not provided Ukraine with information allowing it to target locations behind the Russian border.
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Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder speaks at a press briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, March 2, 2023 (AP).
US Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder argued, on Thursday, that the US military has not provided Ukraine with intelligence to launch an attack within Russia and stressed that Washington is not at war with Moscow, nor is it seeking to be.
"I can say definitively that the notion of us providing intelligence or information to the Ukrainians to target locations inside Russia is nonsense," adding that "we are not at war with Russia, nor do we seek war with Russia".
The spokesperson then reframed during the press briefing Washington's position saying "Our focus is purely on supporting Ukraine to defend itself."
Ryder stated that he cannot confirm reports concerning incidents in Russia's border area of Bryansk that occurred earlier on Thursday.
Bryansk attack
Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz disclosed that a group of Ukrainian militants attacked the Russian border village of Lyubechane.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed that the Ukrainian perpetrators penetrated the border and fired at a moving vehicle.
"In the Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region, the FSB and the Russian Defense Ministry’s affiliated forces are taking measures to destroy the armed Ukrainian nationalists, who have breached the state border," an official statement said.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is receiving updates on the infiltration from the FSB and local authorities when commenting on the incident.
"Today, an infiltration unit from Ukraine penetrated into the village of Lyubechane, Klimovsky district. The saboteurs fired at a moving vehicle. As a result of the attack, one resident was killed, and a ten-year-old child was wounded," the head of the region wrote on his Telegram channel.
