Leaked Pentagon documents suggesting U.S. special forces are operating in Ukraine, and not at the American embassy in Ukraine as the White House suggests, have Republican lawmakers incensed, reports The Hill.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday said there is a "small U.S. military presence" at the American embassy in Ukraine when asked about Pentagon documents leaked by Air Force information technology specialist Jack Teixeira suggesting otherwise.
"They're not there to pull audits to determine where money has been allocated. And they're not there to just try and protect the embassy," Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., member of the House Armed Services Committee, said of the U.S. troops.
"I just think there needs to be more transparency, and that's the thing that's frustrating every one of us," he added.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., earlier this week introduced a resolution "forcing" Biden to transmit the House of Representatives "copies of any and all documents outlining plans for military assistance to Ukraine" and which "directs Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to disclose the number of United States Armed Forces, including special operators, deployed to Ukraine without congressional authority."
"The Biden Administration and other allied countries have been misleading the world on the state of the war in Ukraine," Gaetz said in a statement. "There must be total transparency from this administration to the American people when they are gambling war with a nuclear adversary by having special forces operating in Ukraine."
The Pentagon in November confirmed that U.S. forces were on the ground to inspect American military aid deliveries in Ukraine.
"We publicly acknowledged previously that there is a small U.S. military footprint in Ukraine to provide mission-critical support to the U.S. embassy," said Deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh. "To be clear, there are no U.S combat troops conducting combat operations in Ukraine."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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