An American journalist and political commentator denounced Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby for becoming emotional over the situation in Ukraine, saying he is a sociopath who has a “complete disregard for human life.”
Kirby became emotional Friday after he was asked whether he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin to be a “rational actor.”
“It’s hard to look at what he’s doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that,” Kirby began before appearing to become choked up and pausing for several seconds.
“It’s difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So I can’t talk to his psychology. But I think we can all speak to his depravity,” Kirby added.
Kirby later apologized for becoming emotional, saying “I don’t want to make this about me.”
“It’s hard to square [Putin’s] … BS that this is about Nazism in Ukraine, and it’s about protecting Russians in Ukraine, and it’s about defending Russian national interests, when none of them, none of them were threatened by Ukraine,” said Kirby, pounding on the lectern for emphasis.
“Kirby has some nerve,” said Don DeBar. “If you want to discuss sociopathy, he is a perfect case study.”
“A complete disregard for the truth. A complete disregard for the well-being of others. A false sense of messianic purpose. Dissociative behavior. A lack of empathy for the victims of his actions. An inflated sense of self-worth,” he added.
“Now what does he have to say about Putin? Kirby's body count as a co-conspirator and co-actor for a half-dozen US wars, with a couple of million victims (including the victims of the war in Ukraine today), has a lot more blood on his hands than Putin could acquire if he occupied Ukraine, personally, for a decade,” the analyst said.
Pentagon: US training Ukrainian troops
Kirby on Friday also confirmed that Ukrainian military personnel was receiving American training in Europe amid the conflict with Russia.
“I can announce that the United States has commenced training with the Ukrainian Armed Forces on key systems at US military installations in Germany,” Kirby said.
“This new training effort in Germany and at other locations in Europe is in direct support of recent US security assistance packages that are designed to help Ukraine win their battles today and build strength for tomorrow,” he said, noting that the US has committed $4.3 billion to the Ukrainian military since 2021.
The Pentagon spokesman claimed that the US military has no plans to send its instructors into Ukraine. “The training that we'll do will be outside of” the country.
But the possibility of servicemen inside Ukraine receiving American training “virtually” is being explored, he added.