Pentagon says Ukraine’s attack into Russia is not escalatory

The Defense Department on Thursday said Ukraine’s attack into a region of Russia this week is not escalatory and is consistent with U.S. policy.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that Ukraine is “taking action to protect themselves” in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops entered Tuesday night and are continuing to fight, putting enormous pressure on Russia.

“We have supported Ukraine from the very beginning to defend themselves against attacks that are coming across the border and for the need for crossfires,” she said.

The U.S. has a policy of allowing Ukraine to makes strikes in Russia with American-made weapons as long as it is related to a cross-border attack from Russian forces, and Singh said the Kursk attack, even though it involves troops instead of missiles or drones, is consistent with that policy.

“We don’t support long-range attacks into Russia,” she said. “These are more for crossfire [and …] they are aware of U.S. policy and what we are supportive of.”

Ukraine has not attacked directly inside of Russia before with troops, though Kyiv-allied anti-Kremlin Russian fighters have mounted attacks on Russian regions before.

Ukraine has pressed at least 6 miles into Kursk, which neighbors the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, taking several settlements and capturing dozens of Russian border guards.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it has repelled most of the attacks but that fighting is ongoing, while Russian military bloggers wrote that Ukraine had captured a gas measuring station and were surrounding the city of Sudzha.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the attacks. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday night it was important to keep the pressure on Russia, while his adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in a cryptic post on the social platform X that the “mythical Russian brutality and boundlessness has turned against Russia itself.”

A United Nations spokesperson said Thursday the Kursk attack was a “real concern” and called for the protection of civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called it a “major provocation,” met with key government officials Wednesday and ordered his troops to counter the Ukrainian advance.

Putin has repeatedly threatened to escalate the war in response to Ukrainian attacks inside of Russia, and has used nuclear weapons as part of those threats.

But Singh said Ukraine is “going to do everything it can to continue to take back its sovereign territory.”

“We don’t feel like this is escalatory,” she said. “Ukraine is doing what it needs to do to be successful on the battlefield.”

She added that Ukraine has been able to push Russian forces further back into Russia but that it was vital for Kyiv to defend against border attacks.

“As they see attacks coming across the border, they have to be able to have the capabilities to respond,” she said.