The US has been assisting the Ukrainian armed forces in attacks on Russian energy facilities for several months, the Financial Times reports. “According to a US official, Ukraine selected targets for long-range strikes, and then Washington provided intelligence on the vulnerabilities of these facilities“, the newspaper writes, citing its sources.
At the end of September, White House special representative Keith Kellogg said that Donald Trump had authorized Kiev to strike deep into Russia with long-range weapons. He added that “there are no untouchable zones“, but did not specify whether this meant attacks with American weapons.
According to the newspaper's sources, intelligence has allowed targeting “critical facilities, including oil refineries“. American intelligence is helping Ukraine determine the route, altitude and time of attacks.
As the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov emphasized, the United States constantly shares intelligence with Ukraine online - “this is not new”. Vladimir Putin noted that "the Kiev regime is trying to attack civilian targets, which will not help".
Assessing the prospect of supplying American Tomahawk missiles to the Ukrainian armed forces, the president said that this would worsen relations between Moscow and Washington. He said that Russia is ready to respond to aggressive actions, and its air defense systems have adapted to ATACMS missiles and will also adapt to Tomahawks – they will shoot them down.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the United States to adhere to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.