The top uniformed military chiefs from the United States and Russia spoke by phone this week amid increasing international concern about stability in eastern Ukraine but decided not to reveal what they discussed, according to a military official.
According to Milley's office, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, on Wednesday.
Col. Dave Butler, a spokesperson for the Joint Staff, said, "The two military leaders shared their views on matters of common interest." "Both have decided to keep the precise details of their discussion confidential, as has been the case in the past."
The Joint Staff did not respond to concerns from Only the Press about who else knew what the two leaders spoke about except the participants.
The discussion took place as the international community became increasingly concerned about Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine's Crimea and Donbas regions.
Last week, at the conclusion of an annual exercise in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, the Russian military sparked concern. When the exercise concluded, roughly 2,000 troops remained in Crimea instead of withdrawing as is customary. Last week, the Ukrainian military said that a Russian mortar assault killed four Ukrainian soldiers and injured two others.
Milley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a flurry of phone calls to their respective overseas counterparts in response to the situation.
Blinken spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, "The Secretary reiterated the United States' unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia's continuing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea." "He expressed concern about the security situation in eastern Ukraine and expressed condolences for the recent loss of four Ukrainian soldiers," according to the statement.
Milley spoke with Lt. Gen. Ruslan Khomchak, the Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine, in Kyiv.
Butler of the Joint Staff said only that "the senior leaders addressed the existing security situation in Eastern Europe."
Although Milley remained tight-lipped about his conversation with Russia's military leader, the Pentagon was more forthright about the situation as a whole.
"We're worried about recent Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, including breaches of the July 2020 ceasefire, which resulted in the deaths of four Ukrainian soldiers on March 26th and the wounding of two others," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.
Kirby also said, "We've reached out to Russia to try to obtain a little bit more clarification on what exactly is going on" in regards to troop movements near eastern Ukraine.
He said, "We've been very open about the threats we see from Russia through domains." "We're treating them with the utmost seriousness."
While Russian military demonstrations are disruptive, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank indicated in March that the chances of Moscow escalating the situation into an assault are slim.
"Russia has not deployed additional combat equipment into Donbas, such as artillery and armor units, to enable an escalation," the Institute for the Analysis of War's analysts wrote.
"The weather in eastern Ukraine is currently bad and unsuitable for offensive operations," they said.
On Thursday, a Western intelligence source told Only the News that "all eyes" are on possible developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
