Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland announced yesterday that the U.S. considers that Crimea should be demilitarized, “at a minimum,” and that Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military targets on the peninsula. “No matter what the Ukrainians decide about Crimea in terms of where they choose to fight, etc., Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum, at a minimum, demilitarized,” Nuland told Aaron David Miller in a dialogue for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Asked about the dangers of escalation in the Ukraine war, Nuland said Russia had a host of military installations crucial for the conflict. “Those are legitimate targets, Ukraine is hitting them and we are supporting that,” Nuland said. (https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/02/16/carnegie-connects-inside-biden-s-ukraine-strategy-with-ambassador-victoria-nuland-event-8033)
The Russian Embassy’s spokesman Igor Girenko replied, although not naming her, that: “The statements by a senior State Department official on February 16 about supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces in carrying out strikes on Crimea are a clear confirmation of Russia’s position that the United States is directly involved in the conflict.The official admitted that the administration is fueling the ambitions of the Kiev regime to attack our country.
