U.S. To Putin: "If You Don't Like It, Get The Hell Out Of Ukraine"

The United States Monday strongly rejected the Kremlin's allegations about Western involvement in Ukraine's cross-border operations, which has turned the table by taking the war back to Russia, as it enters a second week, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We are continuing to stay focused on making sure that our partners in Ukraine have what they need to defend themselves from Russian aggression, and ultimately the decisions about how Ukraine conducts its military operations are decisions for Ukraine to make," State Department's Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

"The only reason we are having this conversation... is because in February of 2022 Russia illegally, unjustly crossed into Ukrainian territory with an attempt to subjugate its borders," Patel added.

Kyiv officials on Monday publicly confirmed the operation for the first time nearly a week after their tanks and troops launched raids on the Kursk region capturing obut 1,000 square kilometres, causing over 180,000 people to flee and scrambling Russia’s military response.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, is dealing with internal finger-pointing over the breach as Vladimir Putin said on Monday that "Ukraine's Western masters” are trying to strengthen its hand ahead of possible peace talks with Moscow. He also vowed that “the enemy will certainly receive a worthy response."

The White House calls Putin’s allegations "a bunch of horse-hockey."

“The only people who are in Ukraine are the Russians. They’re the ones that invaded Ukraine and Ukraine is defending itself against that aggression,” National Security Council's John Kirby said Monday morning.

He went on to add that if Putin “doesn’t like it, if it's making him a little uncomfortable, then there's an easy solution:" "You can just get the hell out of Ukraine and call it a day,” Kirby said.  "Ukraine is defending itself against that aggression.  This is Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, pure and simple.  Always has been since the beginning," he added.

Patel also told TURAN's correspondent that Washington's position on using U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia has not changed:  "Nothing has changed about the United States policy with respect to strikes across the border."

The independent U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Monday evening that Ukrainian forces appear to be advancing further within Kursk Oblast despite recent milblogger claims that Russian forces were stabilizing the frontline in Kursk Oblast.

According to ISW accestment, Putin continues to portray himself as an effective and knowledgeable manager of the situation along the Ukrainian-Russian border and to shift responsibility for ongoing challenges in responding to the Ukrainian incursion in the area to other Russian military and government officials.

"The Kremlin's decision to publish footage showing Putin chastising senior Russian officials is likely a warning to other Russian officials to refrain from commenting about the Ukrainian incursion into Russia," it added.