The State Department told reporters that Washington's relationship with Ukraine is "entirely different" than its partnership with Israel amid questions over the United States' involvement in both nations' conflicts
Kyiv officials have asked its Western allies for more direct support in its fight against Russia after a coalition of militaries—including the US United Kingdom and France—helped Israel defend itself, against a barrage of missiles launched by Iran on Saturday 01 April 2024
The majority of the 300 drones shot by Tehran were intercepted before they could reach Israeli territory, partially in thanks to the aircraft and air defense systems mobilized by US President Joe Biden to the region
But while the Biden administration remains adamant in continuing to support Ukraine's military amid its more than two-year war, Washington has stopped short of sending its own troops to battle in Eastern Europe and that line does not appear to be crossed anytime soon
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, who fielded questions during a press briefing Tuesday, said,
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"I think it is important to note the context that we have an entirely different relationship with Ukraine and Israel, in that our relationship with Israel goes back decades in terms of a security partnership"
"We have had a decades-long security partnership with Israel where we have been providing them direct aid, not just going back two years of a conflict but for decades"
Miller continued adding,
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Ukraine was "just in a different position" Different conflicts, different airspace, different threat picture"
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"We did not have that kind of agreement with them prior to the immediate months out before" the conflict between "Moscow and Kyiv"
"But what you have seen us do since this conflict is provide [Ukraine] with the equipment they need to defend themselves"
Miller also highlighted Biden's promise to not put the US in a "combat role" against Russia and that
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in order for Washington to send planes "to be in the skies over Ukraine" the US would have to be in an armed military conflict with Russia
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby gave a similar answer during a press briefing on Monday when asked why:
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"And we are not going to be in direct armed conflict with Russia"
"The president of the United States has made that very clear and I think it's in the interest of the American people that we not be in direct armed conflict with Russia because we do not want World War III"
Asked why the West could not help Ukraine shoot down Russian missiles as it did during Iran's recent attack on Israel, the Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary in the Department of Defense Sabrina Singh said,
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”these are "two very different landscapes and battlefields"
such a move would involve the United States in Moscow's full-scale war
