"I can say definitively that the notion of us providing intelligence or information to the Ukrainians to target locations inside Russia is nonsense," Ryder said during a press briefing.
"We are not at war with Russia, nor do we seek war with Russia. Our focus is purely on supporting Ukraine to defend itself."
With respect to reports about developments in Russia's border region of Bryansk that took place earlier on Thursday, Ryder said he cannot corroborate them.
Earlier in the day, the governor of the Bryansk region of Russia, Alexander Bogomaz, said that a sabotage group from Ukraine had infiltrated the Klimovsky district. As a result of the attack, two people were killed, and a 10-year-old child was wounded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack by Ukrainian saboteurs a terrorist act. The FSB confirmed that security forces were responding to the actions of armed Ukrainian nationalists who had entered the region. Now, the situation in the Bryansk region, as reported by the FSB, is under control. The nationalists were squeezed into Ukraine, where they were hit by a massive artillery strike.