U.S. reports say Moscow has accused the United States and Poland of plotting attacks on Russian territory after Ukraine launched drone strikes on Russian territory this month.
An unnamed source in the Russian security agency told TASS on Friday that data from the intercepted drones showed that the two countries were involved in the plans for the attacks, according to the US website Newsweek.
According to a Russian source, “the competent authorities of the Russian Federation analyzed the electronic components of the intercepted drones that were used by Ukraine to strike Russian infrastructure, in particular, in Sevastopol, Crimea, Kursk, Belgorod and Voronezh.” regions”.
Ukraine has been conducting drone strikes on Russian territory for more than a week now, including on an oil tanker at Kursk airport. The Kursk region borders on Ukraine, but the shelling was carried out further deep into Russia.
Russian officials said there were two explosions: one at Engels Airport in the Saratov region, about 373 miles from Ukraine, and the other on a fuel tanker at Diaghilev Airport near the city of Ryazan, about 127 miles southeast of Moscow. A facility in the Bryansk region, about 50 miles from Russia’s border with Ukraine, was also attacked.
On Friday, the source said the Russian agency’s assessments revealed “the direct involvement of the United States and Poland in massive military and logistical support for the Kyiv regime in the context of preparing and carrying out joint terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation.” Federation”.
According to the source, “The avionics and control posts of the UAV were produced by the American company Spektreworks, which performed the initial setup and verification of the UAV at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona.”
The source also said that Russian security services indicated that the final assembly and flight testing of the drones took place on Polish soil, near the Rzeszow airport, which Moscow claims is used by the US and NATO as the main supply point for Ukrainian forces.
A State Department spokesman told Newsweek on December 6 that the United States does not encourage Ukraine to carry out attacks outside its territory.
“President Biden has made it clear that we do not encourage or allow Ukraine to strike outside its borders, and we do not know when this war will end, but we do know one thing: Ukraine will come out victorious. united with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of using Soviet drones in attacks on Russia that were supposed to “disable Russian long-range aircraft.”
Some experts have said that these are Tu-141 drones, which were developed by the Soviet Army in the 1970s and 1980s.
Although Ukraine did not directly take responsibility for the strikes, it noted this. A senior Ukrainian official told ABC News that Ukrainian special forces were deep in Russian territory and helped direct the drones to at least one of the target bases.
During a November 29 meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Bucharest, Romania, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Renkovich called on Kyiv to strike Russian territory, saying that Ukraine should be able to launch a military offensive within Russia’s borders because Russia had struck vital Ukrainian infrastructure.
