Thursday 05/December/2024 – 06:42 AM
The US Army said Wednesday that Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown spoke by phone with Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov last week, the first time Brown has spoken with his Russian counterpart.
A Brown spokesman said in a statement that the two “discussed a number of global and regional security issues, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.”
The rare call took place on November 27, but “at General Gerasimov’s request, General Brown agreed not to pre-emptively announce the call.”
The spokesman indicated that the Russian Ministry of Defense was the one who requested the call.
Tensions have increased in recent weeks after Ukraine fired American and British missiles at targets inside Russia, despite Moscow’s warnings that it would consider such action a major escalation.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is working to significantly increase the quantities of weapons it supplies to Ukraine, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in the White House.
According to the American newspaper “The Washington Post”, the current administration in the United States fears that “as soon as Trump takes office on January 20, there will be a sudden shift in American policy towards the Ukraine war.”
On Monday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the United States would send military aid worth an additional $725 million to Kiev, including anti-drone munitions, ammunition for the HIMARs missile system, and anti-personnel landmines.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement: “The President ordered the Department of Defense to quickly deliver the materials to Ukraine, to ensure that Ukraine gets the equipment it needs to defend itself,” noting that Biden announced in September his intention to allocate all funding for military aid to Kiev before he leaves office. .
