The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the United States is involved in hostilities in Ukraine and acts as a "gunner" in the use of heavy weapons. This statement was made by the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova, referring to the words of the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Vadym Skibitsky, who had previously said that the United States has the right to veto in each case of the use of HIMARS.
“Other confirmation of the direct involvement of the United States in the hostilities on the territory of Ukraine is not required. Arms deliveries are accompanied not just by instruction on their use, but in this case they perform the function of gunners in their purest form, ”Zakharova said.
On August 1, Skibitsky said the following in an interview with The Telegraph, noting that "US officials do not provide direct information for targeting":
“Presumably before the launch of the missiles, there were consultations between intelligence officials from both countries [Ukraine and the United States] that would allow Washington to stop any potential attacks if they were unhappy with the intended target.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense also responded to these statements. The department said that “they have recorded and take into account for the future the official recognition of the Ukrainian General Skibitsky about the direct approval by Washington of each goal of Kyiv before strikes from HIMARS”:
“All this irrefutably proves that Washington, contrary to the statements of the White House and the Pentagon, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine. It is the Biden administration that is directly responsible for all rocket attacks approved by Kyiv on residential areas and civilian infrastructure facilities in the settlements of Donbass and other regions that resulted in the mass death of civilians.”
In May, Vladimir Putin's spokesman said that "everyone wants to avoid a direct clash between NATO and Russia." At the same time, Peskov noted:
“Russia will be ready to give the most decisive response to the side that tries to somehow get into Ukraine and get into a special military operation that is being carried out by the Armed Forces.”
The Russian side calls the war in Ukraine a “special military operation” (initially, its goal was to protect people from some kind of “genocide”) and claims that it is destroying exclusively military infrastructure. In fact, all this time the Russian army has been attacking residential areas, urban infrastructure and cultural facilities.