Washington. April 19. INTERFAX-The arrival of US military aircraft F-15 and F-16 on the territory of Poland is not a reaction of Washington to the situation around Ukraine, it is a common practice in the framework of exercises, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.
"These maneuverable combat exercises (...) they are routine exercises that have been held for some time. They are not a definite reaction to what is happening on the border with Ukraine or in the Crimea, " Kirby said, answering a corresponding question from a journalist.
He also repeated claims that in recent weeks the United States has seen an increase in the Russian military presence near the borders with Ukraine, and that this is the largest increase in the Russian contingent in this region since 2014.
He said that Russia is concentrating even more troops here than in 2014. Kirby added that the Russian Federation explains this by military exercises, but the US does not seem obvious.
Earlier on Monday, Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced that "several dozen" American fighter jets had arrived in Poland as part of a US military exercise in Europe.
