The Russian Defense Ministry released images showing US vehicles used by Ukrainian militants in the Belgorod attack.
President Joe Biden’s administration has suggested that contrary to images shared by the Russian military and many other images posted on social media showing US-made military vehicles destroyed in the Belgorod region, equipment used by Ukrainian militants in its last attack on Russian soil it was probably not supplied by Washington or its Western allies.
“We have seen some of the reports circulating on social media and elsewhere that US-supplied weapons were used in these attacks.” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday in Washington. “I will say that we are skeptical at this point about the veracity of these reports.”
Miller suggested that the images of the destroyed vehicles could be faked.
“We have seen a lot of reports on social media and blurry images on social media and a lot of living room intelligence analysts making claims,” he said. “We are skeptical that they are accurate.”
VIDEO: Russian troops destroy Western-supplied vehicles in Belgorod region
The images appear to clearly show disabled American-made equipment, including Humvees and at least one MaxxPro MRAP armored fighting vehicle. However, when asked why US officials have not made a definitive assessment, Miller stood by his claim.
“We do not have perfect clarity in the information”, he told reporters. “We are seeing the same images that you see, the same blurry images, and at this time, we are skeptical about their veracity.”
The attack on Monday by a group of Ukrainian saboteurs targeted the Belgorod district of Grayvoron, where at least one resident was killed and several others injured. Russia’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday released aerial video purporting to show the destruction of the Ukrainian militant group, which set US-made armor on fire.
Higher quality video showed several damaged and destroyed US-made vehicles scattered after the attack. The kyiv regime has resorted to launching “terrorist actions” against civilian targets after its forces suffered defeat at Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine), the ministry said.
US officials have denied any responsibility for the attacks on Russian soil. “We do not encourage or allow attacks inside Russia, and we have made that clear, but as we have also said, it is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war.” Miller said Monday.

Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the US government had not approved any transfer of equipment to paramilitary organizations outside of the Ukrainian armed forces. He added that US officials “communicate regularly to Ukraine” that security assistance from Washington should be used only inside the country to defend its sovereignty.
Like Miller, Ryder tried to cast doubt on the images of US-made armored vehicles. “When you see images like that, you know, again, something that we’ll investigate, I don’t know if it’s true or not in terms of the veracity of those images.”
Source: NEWS.com
#United States #struggles #to #explain #images #destroyed #hardware #inside #Russia #World