US denies Russian aggression near border with Ukraine
The United States does not view Russia's actions near the country's southwestern border as overt aggression, said Mark Milley, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"What we're seeing is significant military movement on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine. There's nothing here, so to speak, that's overtly aggressive," Milley said at the Aspen Institute security forum.
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| The US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Photo: AP |
He stressed that such movements happen every year, and so far the Pentagon has not been able to assess the movements. "What this means, we still don't know, it's too early to say. We continue to monitor, using all of our capabilities," Milley added.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry denied information from some Western media that Russia was concentrating its troops on the border with Ukraine. The previous edition of Politico published satellite images, showing the deployment of Russian troops "on the border with Ukraine" - in the Smolensk region, which does not border Ukraine.
Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US was monitoring the situation on the border between Russia and Ukraine in connection with reports of "unusual activity" by the Russian Federation.
