Russian official claims US participating in direct hostilities with his country

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin claimed on Saturday that the United States directly participates in hostilities against Russia amid its war with Ukraine.

“This is not only about the supply of weapons and equipment,” Volodin wrote on Telegram, saying the Ukrainian government was given “the aid of American intelligence forces.”

“After the coup d’etat, foreign advisers and instructors are working in Ukraine. But today, Washington essentially coordinates and develops military operations, thereby directly participating in the hostilities against our country,” he added. 

The Pentagon told The Hill it did not have a comment on the matter.

The comments from the official come amid Russian claims of NATO involvement in Ukraine and provocations from the West.

Ukraine has been able to achieve some surprising military feats. Several Russian generals have been killed by Ukrainian forces in recent months.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the U.S. provided intelligence to Ukraine as part of a program to provide real-time information to aid the country’s military.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Thursday said that while the U.S. provides intelligence to Ukraine, it doesn’t give information on the “location to senior military leaders on the battlefield.”

“The United States provides battlefield intelligence to help Ukrainians defend their country, and we’ve talked about that quite a bit. We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military. The Ukrainians have, quite frankly, a lot more information than we do,” Kirby told reporters on Thursday.

On Thursday night, several news outlets reported that American intelligence reportedly played a role in Ukraine sinking the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva.

Kirby refuted these reports in a statement, saying “We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva. We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out.”

Asked about the Moskva on Friday, the Pentagon official did acknowledge while speaking to reporters that the U.S. provides Ukraine with “what we believe to be relevant and timely information about Russian units that will allow them to adjust and execute their self defense to the best of their ability.”

But Kirby said that the intelligence they provided was limited and lawful, adding that the U.S. was not the only country to share information with Ukraine.