“Those statements by Minister Shoigu are completely false,” Kirby said during a briefing on Tuesday. When asked how he knows that, Kirby repeated, “They are false."
The spokesperson also said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not talked to Shoigu and has no plans to do so yet.
Earlier on Tuesday, Shoigu said that containers with unidentified chemical components have been delivered to the cities of Avdeevka and Krasny Liman to commit provocations.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, there are about 120 employees of US private military companies training Ukrainian special forces in the Donetsk region.