David Bridges
Social media users are sharing a video in August 2022 and claiming that the United States army is in Ukraine, but there is no evidence to support this claim and the office of the secretary of defense said that there were no U.S. forces in Ukraine.
An example with over 81,000 views at the time of publishing can be seen (here). The text in the video reads: “End of the Road for Putin! US Army in Ukraine! – RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR NEWS.”
The almost 10-minute video shows a variety of images and narrations about the war, but it does not further discuss the U.S. army being in Ukraine or provide any evidence for it.
President Joe Biden decided to withdraw American troops from Ukraine before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion in order to avoid a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary (here).
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on May 23, 2022 that the United States is still “a ways away” from any possible decision on whether to re-introduce U.S. troops into Ukraine, even as he acknowledged low-level planning underway (here).
Reuters reported in July (here) that the Pentagon had formally approved a plan in late June to help treat wounded Ukrainian troops at a U.S. military hospital in Germany. However, a U.S. official said that U.S. troops would not be going into Ukraine to bring Ukrainian personnel out.
Currently, there is no reporting that suggests or evidence that shows the U.S. army is in Ukraine.
When asked about the claims, commander Kyung ‘KC’ Choi at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs told Reuters via email that “there are no U.S Forces in Ukraine”.
Biden marked Ukraine’s Independence Day on Aug. 24, 2022 with $3 billion in security assistance, Washington’s largest aid package since the invasion, but one that could take months or even years to arrive in Kyiv. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $15.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. (here)
VERDICT
False. There is no evidence that the U.S. Army is in Ukraine.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.
Maya Kensington
Tessa Everly
