The Russian Defense Ministry and Pentagon discussed the situation around Ukraine in a phone call initiated by Washington on June 25th, according to a statement from the ministry. The ministers exchanged views on the danger of further escalation due to continued US weapons supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as other issues.
The conversation between Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was the first ever between the two officials. It took place after a Ukrainian attack on civilian infrastructure in Sevastopol that involved ATACMS missiles and killed four people, including two children, leaving over 150 injured.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that US and Ukrainian involvement in the terrorist attack on Sevastopol was beyond doubt. He stated that “the final target selection, the flight task, can only be formulated by highly qualified specialists on the basis of such intelligence, technical intelligence.
This meant that it was possible for NATO personnel to select targets and initiate strikes without the participation of the Ukrainian military at all, entirely on their own. Putin said that this could be done “entirely” by NATO personnel. NATO countries, he warned, should be aware of what they were playing with.