Because of what Russia considered a ‘covert operation’ of Ukraine, America intervened to help solve the issue. Ukraine has recently raised concern to Russia and or the United States about an alleged secretive operation that the country planned on conducting. This led Washington to recommend to Kyiv not to continue certain actions known to The New York Times. 

Newly appointed Russia’s Defense Minister, Andrei Belousov, began this interaction by communicating with his counterpart Lloyd Austin in July. The situation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has only been five phone calls between Austin and the Russian defense minister, with the Pentagon given the responsibility to propose the calls. 

Austin and the recently sworn-in Russian Defense Minister met for the first time on the 25th of June with the US side emphasizing on “Open channels. 

US executives informed that on July 12, Belousov made a call where he stated that Russia had found out about a secret operation allegedly being prepared by Ukraine with the consent of the United States. He doubted if the Pentagon had such thinking and he countered: “This plan will make the relations between Moscow and Washington even worse”. This claim shocked Pentagon officials with its seriousness, and the matter was taken up. 

An official noted that while it is still not clear as to what precise Mr. Belousov revealed, the situation called for Americans to get in touch with the Ukrainians or warn them against any such intentions.

The actual character of the claimed operation and, therefore, its potential shape remain undetermined. The Pentagon and the White House have not released further details of the conversation but both spokespersons said that no such operation has been undertaken to date.