NULAND: U.S. Has Been Helping to Plan Ukraine's Counteroffensive for Months
Nuland may be most famous for her call where she said, 'F-ck the EU'
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland said in a video conference last week that the U.S. has been helping Ukraine plan its upcoming counteroffensive for at least four months — in the latest sign that Washington is no longer hiding it is at war with Russia.
Nuland, who was a major player in the U.S.-led coup in Ukraine back in 2014, told the Kyiv Security Forum in a video, “Even as you plan for the counteroffensive, which we have been working on with you for some 4-5 months, we are already beginning our discussions with [the] Ukrainian government and with friends in Kyiv – both on the civilian side and on the military side – about Ukraine’s long-term future,” RT, the Russian news outlet, reported. The Trends Journal emailed the State Department for comment.
President Joe Biden’s administration has been a top promoter of the Ukraine War but the White House has insisted—since the outset—that American troops will not fight Russia in Ukraine and will not provide weapons seen as a red line by Russia.
In March 2022, Biden was asked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the U.S.’s response. The president said, “The idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, just understand, that’s called World War III, OK?”
Biden said a year later, during a visit to Warsaw, that the U.S. wants Ukraine to expel Russian forces from the country and Washington will continue to do all it can to provide Kyiv with the weapons needed to win.
“The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today,” Biden said at the time. “And millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy.”
Biden said Putin could end the war “with a word.”
But since Biden said the U.S. would not provide offensive weapons, the U.S. has approved weapons that have crossed Russian red lines from guided rockets to drones. Russia has never presented a list identifying what it sees as clear red lines, but Western countries have said Ukraine assured them any weapon provided would not be used to strike Russia.
There have been disagreements in the West about what weapons would be acceptable. The U.K., for example, has provided Ukraine with its Storm Shadow cruise missile with a range of nearly 200 miles, which eclipses the U.S.-provided HIMARS that have a 50-mile range. These missiles were also reportedly modified so they cannot reach deep inside Russia.