OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former CIA Agent Bryan Dean Wright believes that the United States has already declared war on Russia.
As Russia’s war with Ukraine continues the former CIA agent appeared on Fox News and spoke to host Tucker Carlson about the current state of affairs between the United States and Russia, Mediaite reported.
Civilians face the full wrath of one of the world’s largest militaries, but Ukraine’s fighters are mounting a vigorous defense. None of that would likely be possible without help from the West, as Ukraine is not a particularly wealthy nation.
American-made missiles, weapons ammunition and other crucial pieces of equipment have helped the country halt Russia’s advance.
On Tucker Carlson Tonight, Wright told Carlson that America’s arming of Ukraine equates to a declaration of war.
“The possibility of a hot war are real and getting more real every day,” he said.
A “hot war” as opposed to a “cold war” would involve United States and Russian troops actually shooting at each other.
“What I’m asking America to do tonight is put aside their hatred for Putin or Zelensky, for that matter, or Ukraine or Russia,” he said.
He said that the aid that the United States has been sending to Ukraine is tantamount to a declaration of war.
“Understand that we have in effect declared war against Russia. We have done three things. One, we have crippled their economy. Two, we are shoving in all of these weapons. And, third, this hasn’t gotten a lot of press. We are giving tactical intelligence to the Ukrainian government to put an X on the forehead of a Russian soldier and Russian equipment. Let me say its little differently. Our spies and satellites are helping the Ukrainians kill Russians. So, we have declared war,” he said.
He said that the Pentagon would decide what a war with Russia would look like, but argued that the United States was defeated in Afghanistan by “goat herders.”
“But it involves young people dying and we should also be talking about that, because our people in Washington aren’t going to be the ones sacrificing,” he said.
Last week Russia informed the United States that it considers the American convoys carrying weapons to Ukraine to be legitimate military targets.
“We have warned the U.S. that the U.S.-orchestrated inundation of Ukraine with weapons from some countries is not just a dangerous move, but also an action that makes these convoys legitimate targets,” Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said, The Epoch Times reported.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) declined to comment.
The U.S. State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday that there had been “no signs” of Russians targeting weapons shipments.
The United States has been providing weapons to Ukraine, including anti-tank and anti-armor missiles.
Ryabkov described such actions as “escalatory.”
“The escalatory component of Washington’s policy absolutely dominates, despite all the incantations that they are extremely responsible people and weigh every step they make,” the deputy foreign minister said.
When he was asked why transferring aircraft from Poland to Ukraine was “high risk,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby explained how the decision was made.
“Just could you give a little more information about this high-risk assessment? Is there anything that’s in the public realm that you could cite that explains why these combat aircraft transfers will be seen as high risk?” the reporter said.
“And you know, is this a new redline by the U.S. Government about things that it won’t do to support Ukraine? Or is this somehow related to the pre-existing red line about no new troops even in airspace?” he said.
“We’re not drawing a red line here, Phil. We’re giving you an honest assessment of how we came to our conclusions about this particular proposal of MIG-29s, that would be transferred to U.S. custody and then given to Ukraine. That’s what we’re here to talk about,” the spokesman said.
“That’s what — that’s the decision that we made. As I answered to Court, we’re constantly with every decision we’re making, with every piece of material and system that we’re providing. We’re always going through the calculus of the need and the potential risk of providing that need. And we’re going to continue to do that going forward.
“And I’m not going to get into the specifics. The sausage making of how that this particular decision got made. I walked through the three justifications the Secretary is very comfortable with this decision. And with those three justifications, and I’m going to just leave it at that,” he said.