Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu displayed images of two severely damaged armored vehicles, left after the May 22 raid into Belgorod by the"Russian Volunteer Forces” of neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin (aka Nikitin). They look similar to those provided by the U.S. to Ukraine as part of military aid. Shoigu had shown high-quality images of several damaged and abandoned US vehicles, in particular Humvees and the MaxxPro MRAP armored fighting vehicles. However, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the evidence “fuzzy pictures,” telling reporters that the US administration is “skeptical of their veracity.” And the ‘bob and weave’ game began.
Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder on May 23 said the U.S. had not authorized nor received Ukrainian requests for transferring equipment to paramilitary groups. He also expressed doubts about the Russian reports and images appearing to show U.S.-made vehicles. “I don’t know if it’s true or not, in terms of the veracity of that imagery.”
Politico reported that yesterday U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the White House is “looking into those reports that the U.S. equipment and vehicles could have been involved.” Then Kirby distanced Washington from Kiev: “We’ve been pretty darn clear: We don’t support the use of U.S.-made equipment for attacks inside Russia … we’ve been clear about that with the Ukrainians.”
