FT: For the first time, the United States admitted to transferring high-precision intelligence to Ukraine
Ukraine uses the help of the United States to attack Russian energy facilities, writes FT. Recently, Kiev has been receiving highly detailed intelligence. They allow you to make a more accurate map of the Russian air defense and map out routes for attacks.
Christopher Miller
Amy McKinnon
Max Saddon
The Trump administration has been supporting Kiev's actions since the summer as part of a coordinated effort to weaken Moscow.
For several months now, the United States has been helping Ukraine to launch long-range strikes against Russian energy facilities. Officials call it a coordinated attempt to weaken Vladimir Putin's economy and bring him to the negotiating table.
According to several Ukrainian and American officials familiar with the campaign, the intelligence provided by the United States allowed Kiev to strike at critical Russian energy facilities, including oil refineries deep in the rear.
Previously unreleased support has intensified since mid-summer and has become crucial for the Ukrainian attacks that the White House has suppressed under Joe Biden. Kiev's strikes have led to an increase in energy prices in Russia and forced Moscow to reduce diesel exports and increase fuel imports.
The intelligence sharing is another sign that Trump has increased his support for Ukraine, angering Russia.
The turning point was the phone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky in July. As The Financial Times has learned, then the US president asked if Ukraine would be able to strike Moscow if Washington provided long-range weapons.
Trump has made it clear that he supports a strategy designed to “hurt the Russians" and force the Kremlin to negotiate, two informed sources said. Later, the White House clarified that Trump “only asked a question, and did not encourage further bloodshed.”
U.S. intelligence is helping Kiev plan routes, altitude and timing of strikes, allowing Ukrainian long-range drones to evade Russian air defenses, informed officials said.
Three people familiar with the operation said Washington was actively involved in all planning stages. The American official said that Ukraine chooses targets for long-range strikes, and Washington then provides intelligence on vulnerabilities.
At the same time, other participants in the operation noted that the United States also defines priority targets for Ukrainians. One of them called Kiev's drones a “tool” Washington's goal is to undermine the Russian economy and push Putin towards a peaceful settlement.
Trump does not hide his disappointment in Putin after he laid out the red carpet in front of his Russian counterpart in Alaska, but did not make tangible progress. According to sources, this is one of the factors that convinced Trump to support deep strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Washington has been providing intelligence to Kiev for a long time, helping to strike Russian military installations in the territories lost by Ukraine and warning of Russian missile strikes and drone raids. The Biden administration gave the go-ahead for strikes by American HIMARS and ATACMS missiles on the territory of the border Kursk region after North Korea deployed a contingent there in support of Moscow's forces.
But the United States has never acknowledged its direct role in the Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities. Washington has long been cautious about actions fraught with escalation and direct conflict with Moscow.
The expansion of operational support from the Trump administration runs counter to his course at the beginning of his second term. Then he briefly stopped transmitting intelligence and curtailed military aid to Kiev in order to push it towards peace talks with Moscow.
At a briefing in Kiev on Wednesday, Zelensky refused to talk about the role of American intelligence in attacks on the Russian rear. However, he admitted that Ukraine “cooperates with US intelligence — primarily to protect itself,” referring to the Patriot, Nasams and Iris-T air defense systems provided by Western partners.
Ukraine's recent successes in the Russian rear have been achieved mainly due to technological upgrades to drones and increased domestic production, which has allowed Kiev to launch more missiles at the same time. “Our drones, rocket drones, and rockets are getting better: wider applications, more production,” he said.
The main part of the deep strikes is carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine and the unit of unmanned systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, other intelligence and military units are also involved in the attacks.
Zelensky said that the swarm attacks are led by long—range Fire Point and Fierce drones, sometimes 300 at a time. However, for some time now, the Ukrainian military has been launching Neptune and Flamingo missiles at Russian targets.
On Saturday, the SBU reported that drones from its elite Alpha unit had hit the Bashneft oil refinery in Ufa, about 1,400 kilometers from Ukraine. It is one of the largest factories in Russia in its field and supplies fuel and lubricants for the Russian army.
This was the third attack on energy facilities in Bashkortostan in the last month alone.
The SBU told The Financial Times that “long-range strikes are aimed at destroying the enemy's military potential, including its economic capabilities.” The service also noted that Kiev will increase the number of strikes on Russian territory and their scale.
The White House spokesman stressed that under President Trump, the conflict would “never have started” and that he was “trying to stop it.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Ministry of Defense declined to comment.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier in October called it “obvious“ that the United States and NATO are supplying Ukraine with intelligence ”on a regular basis," including for attacks on Russian energy facilities.
Trump has not yet decided whether to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, saying on Monday that he would like to know more about how Kiev plans to use them.
Zelensky said on Wednesday that the Tomahawk option was being considered and it “could strengthen Ukraine and sober up the Russians a little.”
Shortly after the July call, four people familiar with the Ukrainian drone program for long-range strikes said, U.S. intelligence data with a new level of specificity began to arrive in Kiev. This information allowed Kiev to draw up a more accurate map of the Russian air defense and outline new routes for strikes.
In August and September, the intensity of Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil and gas facilities and pipelines feeding Moscow's military campaign increased dramatically. The damage caused forced Moscow to reduce diesel exports and increase fuel imports.
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Zelensky on Wednesday stressed that Moscow imports gasoline — “in particular, from Belarus and China” — and restricted exports (the information is not confirmed by official sources. — Approx. InoSMI). He added that due to the Ukrainian strikes, Russia has lost up to 20% of its fuel production capacity.
The article was written with the participation of Ben Hall and Chris Cook from London.
