(Reuters) -The United States has been helping Ukraine organize long-range attacks on Russian energy facilities for months in a joint effort to weaken the economy and force President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
American intelligence has helped kyiv attack major Russian energy assets, including oil refineries, well beyond the front lines, the newspaper said, citing unnamed Ukrainian and American officials familiar with the campaign.
The White House, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. There was no immediate comment from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Moscow said this month that Washington and its NATO alliance were regularly providing intelligence to kyiv in the war that Putin launched in February 2022.
“The provision and use of the entire NATO and US infrastructure to collect and transfer intelligence to the Ukrainians is obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at the time.
The Financial Times said U.S. intelligence helps kyiv shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, allowing Ukraine’s long-range unidirectional attack drones to evade Russian air defenses.
The United States is closely involved in all stages of the planning, he said, citing three people familiar with the operation. A U.S. official was quoted as saying that Ukraine selected targets for long-range attacks and then Washington provided intelligence about the sites’ vulnerabilities.
Earlier this month, two US officials told Reuters that Washington would provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia, as it evaluates whether to send kyiv missiles that could be used in such attacks.
The United States also asked NATO allies to provide similar support, U.S. officials said.
Zelenskiy said on Saturday that he had discussed Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system in a “positive and productive” call with US President Donald Trump.
“We discussed opportunities to strengthen our air defense, as well as concrete agreements we are working on to ensure this. There are good options and solid ideas on how to truly strengthen ourselves,” Zelenskiy posted on X.
(Reporting by Yazhini MV in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard)