Another Fake: Russian Sites Say US Wants Ukraine to Attack Russia

Russian media outlets are claiming that the US “has given permission to Kyiv to conduct attacks against new regions of Russia,” according to anti-propaganda NGO StopFake.

StopFake today highlighted posts on Russian social media where John Kirby, the White House’s National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, is quoted as saying that the US is “enabling and encouraging” the Armed Forces of Ukraine to undertake assaults outside the territory of Ukraine.

Below is a screenshot shared by StopFake from the Russian site www.lenta.ru

StopFake pointed out that, as reported by CNN on April 5, Kirby had said to a public news conference: “We do not enable nor do we encourage the Ukrainians to strike outside of Ukraine.”

StopFake, which is part of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), also said that “in line with the norms of international law, there are no ‘new regions of Russia.’ What is being referred to are the regions illegally captured and annexed by the Russian Federation: Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhiya, and Kherson oblasts. The Ukrainian army has every right to undertake on these territories any combat action aimed at liberating them.”