The Financial Times (FT) published on October 12 that the US has been assisting Ukraine to launch long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities in the months-long collaborative effort to strike the economy and compel President Vladimir Putin to the bargaining table.
According to the newspaper, which cites unnamed Ukrainian and US officials privy to the campaign, US intelligence has helped Kyiv in attacking Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, well beyond the front line.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine did not swiftly reply to the requests of Reuters to comment on its reports. The Russian Foreign Ministry has not immediately commented on this.
Moscow stated that in October, Washington and its Nato alliance were routinely supplying information to Kyiv in the conflict, which was launched by Vladimir Putin in February 2022.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said to Reuters that “The supply and use of the entire infrastructure of Nato and the United States to collect and transfer intelligence to Ukrainians is obvious.”
The FT reported that US intelligence assists Kyiv in its route planning, altitude, timing, and mission decisions, allowing Ukraine long-range, one-way attack drones to avoid Russian air defenses.
It reported that the US is so intimately engaged in every phase of its planning, involving three individuals close to the operation.
A US official was quoted as saying Ukraine chose the targets of long-range strikes, and Washington, in its turn, was supplying the information concerning the vulnerabilities of the sites.
At the beginning of October, two US officials told Reuters that Washington would offer Ukraine intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia, as it considers whether to send Kyiv missiles that could be used to attack in such strikes.
The US officials reported that the NATO allies were also asked to offer the same support.
Zelensky said on October 11 that he had a “positive and productive” call with US President Donald Trump, wherein they discussed Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system.
Zelensky posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that “We discussed opportunities to bolster our air defence, as well as concrete agreements that we are working on to ensure this. There are good options and solid ideas on how to truly strengthen us.”
