Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says the May 9 speech to Russian President Vladimir Putin was full of falsehoods and untruths – and calls for a Russian plan to withdraw from Ukraine.
Just updated
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On Monday, Russia marks the liberation from the Nazis during World War II, and Putin spoke to the people. There he claimed, among other things, that NATO was planning an invasion of the Crimean peninsula.
Putin described the “special operation” in Ukraine as a “justified act”.
– It’s not, said Kirby.
Moves Ukrainians to Russia
Putin also said that Ukraine provoked the war, which Kirby rejected.
Kirby says that the speech was full of the same falsehoods and untruths that one has become accustomed to from Russia since the beginning of the war.
– Do you know who is in Ukraine? Ukrainians, not Nazis, he said.
“What we should have heard were plans for how he will end this war and get the forces out of Ukraine,” Kirby said of Putin’s speech.
Kirby also said that the United States has indications that some Ukrainians are being moved from Ukraine to Russia against their will.
– Obviously absurd
Several have reacted to the speech to the Russian president, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor).
During his visit to Kirkenes on Monday he said, among other things, that “Putin’s description of the war in Ukraine is moving further and further away from reality on the ground.”
The US State Department also commented on the speech on Monday night.
– To call this an act of defense is obviously absurd, says spokesman Ned Price.
– It is an insult to those who have lost their lives and those who are victims of this meaningless oppression, he said.
The case is being updated.
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