Smith said she did not believe “we still have evidence of this”, that the Kremlin would narrow its focus to the Donbas region, but that the US and its allies would look for it. “But what we have evidence is the fact that the Russians did not achieve their original goals. And that was, as you well know, to occupy Kyiv in a few days,” he said. “Well, because of that, I think Russia is reevaluating and they have shown that they are going to change their tactics, but let’s give some time. In the next two days, the United States, in close cooperation with the allies and the Ukrainian government, will look for evidence of this change, “Smith added. Smith also defended new moves by NATO and the United States to continue punishing Russia in the wake of the US president’s visit, although Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with the lack of support. Asked if NATO would provide Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with fighter jets, Smith said, “this is an evolving debate,” but in the end it was not. “We have spoken to President Zelensky several times in recent weeks. We have heard their requests for help. In many cases, we have delivered these anti-aircraft, anti-tank capabilities, assessing air defense needs.” he said. “But the answer is no, if you ask about Soviet-era aircraft, the United States has decided that this particular proposal by Poland is unfounded. But honestly, if a NATO ally wanted to provide such equipment, fighter jets, “MiGs, that’s a sovereign decision, they can make that sovereign decision. But right now, the United States is very focused on their air defense needs. And we have multiple capabilities to try to meet those demands.” On the possibility of cyber-attacks being included in NATO’s charter, Smith declined to “hypothetically penetrate”, but said she had no doubt that if an ally “stepped forward” and invoked Article 5, the alliance “would be ready.” to respond and take action “.
