The U.S. leaderships has no evidence to support Russian accusations that the Ukrainian military is preparing for an offensive in Donbas, U.S. Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said.
“We firmly reject Russia’s efforts to point to Ukraine as the aggressor. There is no indication that Ukraine intends to conduct or is undertaking preparations for offensive operations in their own country or in eastern Ukraine,” he told journalists at a daily briefing on Aug. 24.
Kirby went on to say that the U.S. welcomes the recent meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Berlin, and their ongoing, shared commitment to the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.
“We remain concerned, of course, about violence in eastern Ukraine. Our analysis continues to show, and as I have said before, that it is the combined Russian-separatist forces and not Ukrainian forces who are initiating aggressive activities. Ukraine’s military posture continues to be defensive,” Kirby said.
