RIA Novosti quoted Kirby as saying.
“These statements by Minister Shoigu are absolutely not & nbsp; true & raquo;, & nbsp; & mdash; replied & nbsp; he.
A Pentagon spokesman said that & nbsp; US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not & nbsp; spoke to & nbsp; Shoigu on & nbsp; the background of the escalation of the conflict in & nbsp; Ukraine.
Earlier Shoigu said that & nbsp; American private military companies are preparing a provocation with chemical components in & nbsp; Donetsk region.
The Minister clarified that & nbsp; unidentified chemical components were delivered for & nbsp; to commit provocations in & nbsp; the cities of Avdeevka and & nbsp; Krasny Liman. According to the & nbsp; information of the military department, about & nbsp; 120 employees of American companies preparing Ukrainian special forces are located in the & nbsp; Donetsk region.
In & nbsp; in connection with & nbsp; the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin called on the world community not & nbsp; allow Kiev to use chemical weapons in & nbsp; Donbass. According to & nbsp; he said, near the & nbsp; line of contact, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (APU) continue to build up forces and & nbsp; assets, and & nbsp; Kiev persistently demonstrates its unwillingness to go to & nbsp; dialogue.
Pushilin added that & nbsp; Ukraine has become a testing ground for & nbsp; ; experiments of external players, and & nbsp; its inhabitants & nbsp; & mdash; hostages of the current situation.