Despite the cease-fire in Ukraine holding, a United States official said Wednesday that the U.S. considered the situation a Russian invasion. Speaking before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was asked by lawmaker Brian Higgins about Russia’s support of rebels in eastern Ukraine. “In practical terms does that constitute an invasion?” asked Higgins, to which Nuland replied “We have used that word in the past, yes.” Nuland is the first U.S. official to use such a term to describe the situation in the East European country. The U.S. official played a key role in the the fall of previous president Victor Yanukovych and infamously remarked "fuck the EU," when discussing a previous solution to the Ukraine crisis. U.S. President Barack Obama has so far declined to use the term, as have U.S. ambassadors, Secretary of State John Kerry, and EU leaders such as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nuland's remarks come after the Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe (OSCE) certified that the rebel forces have withdrawn their heavy weaponry from the frontline, abiding to the Minsk agreement, in what has been greeted as a step forward in solving the conflict. Nuland's claims coincide with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, who urged the government to consider providing lethal weaponry to Kiev. “I think we should absolutely consider lethal aid and it ought to be in the context of NATO allies because Putin’s ultimate objective is to fracture NATO,” said Dempsey, speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee about Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Obama and several EU leaders held a video conference Tuesday and discussed the latest developments in Ukraine, threatening Russia with further sanctions if there is a breach in the implementation of the Minsk peace agreement. Source URL |
