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Military operation in Ukraine

Russian, US defense chiefs exchange views on situation around Ukraine in first phone call

Andrey Belousov highlighted the danger of further escalation due to continued US weapons supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov Mikhail Sinitsyn/TASS

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov

© Mikhail Sinitsyn/TASS

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin discussed the situation around Ukraine in a phone call initiated by Washington, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"A US-initiated phone call between Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin took place on June 25, 2024. The ministers exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine," the statement reads.

"Belousov highlighted the danger of further escalation due to continued US weapons supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces. The parties also discussed other issues," the ministry pointed out.

This was the first conversation between Belousov and Austin. The phone call took place after a Ukrainian attack on civilian infrastructure in the city of Sevastopol, which involved ATACMS missiles and killed four people, including two children, leaving over 150 injured. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that US and Ukrainian involvement in the terrorist attack on Sevastopol was beyond doubt.

On May 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that "the final target selection, the flight task, can only be formulated by highly qualified specialists on the basis of such intelligence, technical intelligence." He stressed that this could be done without the participation of the Ukrainian military at all, entirely by NATO personnel. NATO countries, "should be aware of what they are playing with," he warned.

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Foreign policy Ukraine United States Military operation in Ukraine

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