White House says it was not informed ahead of Ukraine’s Russia incursion

The White House says it was not involved or notified ahead of Ukraine‘s recent incursion into Russia.

“No, we had nothing to do with this,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. “This is something for the Ukrainians to speak to, their military operations. Our policy has not changed on this.”

That policy, she added, is to “continue to provide Ukraine with the assistance that they need to stop the oppression, beat back the oppression of Russia.”

Last week, Ukrainian forces entered Russia’s Kursk Oblast in a surprise for Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a broadcast that Ukrainian forces are progressing in their effort “to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”

Russia has responded to the counteroffensive into the Kursk region with antipathy, vowing that Russian troops will deliver a tough response to the attack. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the “perpetrators of these crimes … will be held accountable for them,” according to CNN.

President Joe Biden has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the invasion began more than two years ago, rallying European allies and Congress to back the embattled nation against Russian forces with both financial and military resources.

Jean-Pierre did not explicitly say the Biden administration supports Ukraine’s move, but struck a mostly positive tone about the development.

“Russia is attacking their sovereignty, their freedom,” she said. “The Ukrainian people have been incredibly brave in what they’ve been able to do. But we have no involvement. We’ll continue to have conversations with Ukrainians about their approach, but it is really for them to speak to.”

“Remember, this is Russia’s war,” she continued. “This is their invasion. This is their aggression into a sovereign country, and the Ukrainians have been incredibly brave in beating back that aggression.”

She answered “no” when asked if the United States received a heads-up or had any kind of leadership role in guiding Ukraine’s incursion into its neighbor.

Russia launched attacks against nearly a dozen Ukrainian regions over the weekend and targeted Kyiv, the capital and largest city in Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The Russian war against Ukraine began in February 2022 when Russian forces launched a mass invasion of Ukraine’s territory. Moscow faced global condemnation for the action, which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of troops and civilians.