Originally published April 12, 2023 1:57 am PDT
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed on Fox News that there is a “small U.S. military presence” at the American embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The admission comes after top-secret U.S. military documents leaked from the Pentagon revealing that American troops are already on the ground in Ukraine.
The troops apparently provide security services and assist with the accountability of materials, such as weapons, going in and out of Ukraine.
“I won’t talk to the specifics of numbers and that kind of thing. But to get to your exact question, there is a small U.S. military presence at the embassy in conjunction with the Defense Attachés office to help us work on accountability of the material that is going in and out of Ukraine,” Kirby said in reference to weapons and other support provided to Kyiv by the U.S. “So they’re attached to that embassy and to that the defense attache.”
Kirby also claimed that these troops are not engaged in fighting on the battlefield and emphasized that there has been no change in President Biden’s mandate against deploying American troops to fight in the conflict.
“There has been no change to the president’s mandate that there will not be American troops in Ukraine fighting in this war,” the national security spokesman said.
Meanwhile, The Times of London has reported that the Ukrainian government, working with the U.S., attempted to retake the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from Russian control last year.
The report claims that U.S.-provided HIMARS rockets were used during the assault.
A U.S. defense source confirmed that “time-sensitive” intelligence was provided to Ukrainian special forces but did not give specific details.
