Russia White House exercises restraint on Ukraine pledge

The White House has rejected criticism from Moscow after reports of US missiles being cleared for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory - but otherwise responded evasively to questions on the subject.

"The fire was ignited by the Russian invasion of Ukraine," said US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Even when asked several times, Finer did not want to officially confirm the reports, but did not deny them either. "I am not confirming any decisions that have or have not been made with respect to US support on these operational issues," Finer said.

Finer continued: "I'm not going to go into the options that are on the table or anything like that, but just to say that we have made it very clear that the goal, the overarching strategic goal, for the rest of this term with respect to Ukraine is to make Ukraine as strong as possible."

The fact is that the US government makes its political decisions "based on the circumstances" on the battlefield. In recent days and weeks, there has been a "significant Russian escalation", said Finer, referring to reports about the deployment of North Korean troops.

White House: USA responds to battlefield situation in Ukraine war

"The United States has made it clear that we would respond. We made it clear to the Russians that we would respond," said the US government representative. If circumstances changed, the US government would have to respond.

Finer implied that the reports were probably true - but he did not explicitly confirm them. When asked whether the US government supported the delivery of the German Taurus cruise missiles, Finer did not want to answer.

Previously, US media had unanimously reported that outgoing President Joe Biden would allow Ukraine to deploy ATACMS tactical missiles with a range of several hundred kilometers against targets in Russia for the first time.

This is primarily intended to help defend against the counter-offensive by Russian and possibly North Korean troops against the Ukrainian bridgehead in the Kursk region.

SDA