(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A U.S. senior administration official confirmed that Moscow has maintained forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine for nearly a decade, despite assertions from the Biden administration that a move into that area by Russian troops amounts to an invasion.
“Russian troops moving into Donbas would not itself be a new step,” the official said. “Russia has had forces in the Donbas region for the past eight years.”
The official made comments during a briefing, speaking on the condition of anonymity, according to Just the News.
This report contradicts recent charges against Russia from the White House, who claimed in an official statement that by sending troops across the border, Russia had launched an invasion against the country.
“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” President Joe Biden said in an address from the White House.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, reported to the U.N Security Council that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent “peacekeepers” to Donbas as a pretense for invading Ukraine.
“He calls them peacekeepers,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “This is nonsense. We know what they really are.”
But, the Russian military has been present in eastern Ukraine since Crimea was absobed into Russia, the senior administration official said.
The official noted that Moscow had denied what U.S. officials knew to be true—that Russian troops were stationed in Donbas.
“They’re apparently now making a decision to do this in a more overt and open way,” the official said. “But this has been the state of affairs in that region and a big part of why it has been so unstable since 2014.”
By increasing the troop count inside Donbas, Russia is no longer keeping their pretense a secret, the administration official said.
“Now Russia looks like it’s going to be operating openly in that region, and we are going to be responding accordingly,” the official said.