HONOLULU, (KHON), — According to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the United States military is monitoring a Russian ship near Hawaii’s waters.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command stated that she had spoken to Nexstar’s KHON in a statement:
“U.S. “U.S. We closely monitor all vessels within the Indo-Pacific region of operations using maritime patrol aircraft, surface boats, and joint capabilities. I can confirm that we are currently monitoring a Russian surface ship operating in international waters near Hawaii as part of our daily operations.
Indo-PACOM includes much of Eastern Asia including China, North Korea and Japan as well as countries in Pacific regions like Indonesia and Australia. Indo-PACOM, like the five other geographical combatant commands, is responsible for using and integrating all U.S. military branches “within its scope of responsibility to achieve U.S. security objectives while protecting national interest.” Russia falls under the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM).
Retired Marine Lt. One retired Marine Lt. Colonel stated that it is not uncommon to see it, but that it has attracted the attention of the military due to the war on Ukraine.
Retired Lt. Colonel Hal Kempfer stated. “They aren’t just watching the ship, they’re also watching what might be connected to it and getting some detail on how it might be doing it, why it might exist, and who it might be reporting to.” These things are all incorporated into a fusion process. An analytical process, if needed, which tells us if this is a threat.
Kempfer stated that Soviet intelligence ships were often found loitering in the vicinity of Hawaii during the Cold War and that Russia uses similar tactics to Soviets from the Cold War era.
Kempfer stated that “the tactics, techniques and procedures we saw the Soviets do back in the Cold War seem like they are resurfacing again under Russian banner.” This seems like one of those issues I would point out to Russian intelligence vessels potentially off the coast of Hawaii.”
Over the weekend, a U.S. congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Poland and Ukraine. The surprise visit to Kyiv was to meet with President Volodymr Zilenskyy of Ukraine, before they traveled to Poland the following day.
Two days earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden requested Congress for $33 Billion to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia. This is more than twice as much as the $13.6 Billion aid package that Congress passed early last month. It is now almost empty. The measure was made to show Vladimir Putin, Russian President, that U.S. weapons and other assistance were not going away as the war drags into its third month.
This report was contributed by The Associated Press.
