The United States will not “wring its hands” over massive Russian military losses following the Ukrainian attack on the Makiivka barracks, a senior White House official said Wednesday.
A rocket attack was carried out on New Year’s Eve against a building in occupied Makiivka in eastern Ukraine which was being used by the Russians as barracks. Russia has officially admitted that 89 people died in the attack – and that’s already a lot – while the Ukrainian military estimates that around 400 soldiers died.
After Moscow criticized the use of American weapons by Ukrainians to carry out attacks, including at the Makiivka barracks, John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said that only Russia itself was responsible for the situation.
The Biden administration, in Kirby’s words, “isn’t wringing its hands at all. This is war. They’ve been invaded and they [украинцы] fight back and defend. Russian soldiers in this territory are legitimate targets for Ukrainian military operations, period.”
Kirby declined to provide a US assessment of Russian casualties in an attack that all sides say was extraordinarily fatal, even by the bloody standards of the more than 10-month-long Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I won’t get into the body count. This is war. And now it is in a zone of fierce fighting. And war is a bloody story,” she said.
Kirby also declined to comment on the role of the HIMARS advanced multiple launch rocket system in the attack.
We deliver and will continue to deliver [Украине] the kinds of systems and assistance they need to protect themselves. And yes, this has included HIMARS in the past and may include more HIMARS in the future,” said Kirby. – Let’s be very clear. This is Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Kirby called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Russia is actually waging a war against the United States and the West in general “a bunch of nonsense”.
“We are talking about a Russian invasion of Ukraine. And Russia is the one who started it all. Russia is the one who unleashed the violence against the Ukrainian people,” Kirby said.
