(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden mentioned from day one of many Russian invasion there can be no U.S. army boots on the bottom in Ukraine — however we’ve now discovered there are at the least some army personnel from America hooked up to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
A senior White Home official instructed NewsNation there’s a small U.S. army presence in Ukraine offering Embassy safety providers and accountability for weapons getting despatched there.
This all got here to mild in leaked Pentagon paperwork exhibiting the U.S. and its allies, together with the UK, Latvia, France and the Netherlands, have particular forces on the bottom in Ukraine.
The response from the Biden administration at the moment has been that there’s nothing to see right here.
That is one thing they’ve talked about earlier than — and the administration reaffirmed there aren’t any fight forces in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s protection minister denies claims NATO troops are preventing in opposition to Russian armed forces.
It needs to be mentioned NewsNation — and different information organizations — haven’t confirmed the accuracy of the data included in these leaked paperwork, although the Pentagon has confirmed the leak’s authenticity.
A number of the paperwork additionally seem to have been doctored after they have been leaked as effectively.
On Wednesday, Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukraine’s Prime Minister on the Pentagon. Austin reaffirmed U.S. assist for Ukraine amid the doc leak.
“I’m assured that we are going to meet Ukraine’s protection wants by means of this spring and past,” Austin mentioned. “Because the president has repeatedly made clear we’ll stand by Ukraine so long as it takes.”
A senior protection official didn’t rule out the potential for extra leaks — saying officers are nonetheless assessing the total scope of what they’re coping with.
