Ukraine Hit Russian Energy Sites with US Help

The US has for months been helping Ukraine mount long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities, in what officials say is a co-ordinated effort to weaken Vladimir Putin’s economy and force him to the negotiating table.

American intelligence shared with Kyiv has enabled strikes on important Russian energy assets including oil refineries far beyond the frontline, according to multiple Ukrainian and US officials familiar with the campaign.

The previously unreported support has intensified since midsummer and has been crucial in helping Ukraine carry out attacks that Joe Biden’s White House discouraged. Kyiv’s strikes have driven up energy prices in Russia and prompted Moscow to cut diesel exports and import fuel.

The intelligence sharing is the latest sign that Trump has deepened his support for Ukraine as his frustration with Russia has grown.

The shift came after a phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July, when the FT reported the US president asked whether Ukraine could strike Moscow if Washington provided long-range weapons.

Trump signalled his backing for a strategy to “make them [Russians] feel the pain” and compel the Kremlin to negotiate, said the two people briefed on the call. The White House later said Trump was “merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing”.

The US intelligence helps Kyiv shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, enabling Ukraine’s long-range, one-way attack drones to evade Russian air defences, said the officials familiar with the matter.

Three people familiar with the operation said Washington was closely involved in all stages of planning. A US official said Ukraine selected the targets for long-range strikes and Washington then provided intelligence on the sites’ vulnerabilities.

But others involved and briefed on the operations said the US had also set out target priorities for the Ukrainians. One of them described Kyiv’s drone force as the “instrument” for Washington to undermine Russia’s economy and push Putin towards a settlement.

Trump has been open about his disappointment with Putin since he rolled out the red carpet for his Russian counterpart at an Alaska summit that made little tangible progress. This was a factor in Trump’s shift in support of deeper strikes, the people said.

Washington has long shared intelligence with Kyiv to assist in attacks on Russian military targets in occupied areas of Ukraine, and to provide advanced warning of Russian missile and drone strikes. The Biden administration approved strikes with US Himars and Atacms missiles inside a Russian region bordering Ukraine after North Korea deployed troops there to bolster Moscow’s forces.

But the US has not acknowledged a direct role in Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy facilities. Washington has long remained cautious about actions that could escalate the war and draw it more directly into conflict with Moscow.

The growing operational support from the Trump administration starkly contrasts with earlier in the US president’s second term, when he briefly halted intelligence sharing and military aid to Kyiv to pressure it into peace talks with Moscow.

Zelenskyy declined to speak about US intelligence’s role in his army’s deep strikes inside Russia in a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday. But he said Ukraine was “working with US intelligence, primarily to defend ourselves”, referring to the Patriot, Nasams and Iris-T air defence systems provided by western partners.

Ukraine’s recent success with deep strikes was mostly because of technological upgrades to drones and increased domestic production, which has allowed Kyiv to launch more at once. “Our drones, drone-missiles and some missiles are getting better: more uses, greater production,” he said.

Most of the deep strikes are conducted by Ukraine’s SBU security service and the Unmanned Systems Forces branch of the country’s Armed Forces. But other intelligence and military units also play roles in the attacks.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s Fire Point and Liutyi long-range drones — sometimes up to 300 in a single operation — had led the swarm attacks. But Ukrainian forces had also recently fired domestically-produced Neptune and Flamingo missiles at targets inside Russia.

On Saturday, the SBU said its elite Alpha unit’s long-range drones had successfully hit the Bashneft-UNPZ oil refinery in Ufa, some 1,400 kilometres from Ukraine. The plant is one of the largest refineries in Russia, supplying fuel and lubricants to the Russian army.

It marked the third strike on energy facilities in Russia’s Bashkortostan region in the past month.

The SBU told the FT its “long-range strikes are aimed at destroying the enemy’s military potential — including its economic capabilities”. It added Kyiv would work to increase the number and breadth of strikes within Russia.

A White House official said the war “never would have happened” under a Trump presidency and that he was “trying to get it stopped”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier this month said it was “obvious” the US and Nato were providing intelligence to Ukraine “on a regular basis” including for strikes on Russian energy targets.

Trump has not decided whether to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, saying on Monday he wanted to find out more about how they would be used.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday said the Tomahawk option was being considered and it “could strengthen Ukraine and sober the Russians up a bit”.

Soon after the July call, the four people familiar with the Ukrainian deep strike drone operation said US intelligence with a new level of specificity began flowing to Kyiv. That information has allowed Kyiv to better map Russian air defences and plot strike routes.

The tempo of Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil and gas facilities and pipelines that underpin Moscow’s war effort escalated dramatically in August and September. The damage forced Moscow to curtail diesel exports and increased its reliance on imported fuel.

At least 16 of the country’s 38 oil refineries have been struck, some repeatedly, disrupting more than 1mn barrels a day of refining capacity, according to Energy Aspects, a research group.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday said Moscow was importing petrol — “notably from Belarus and China” — and had restricted exports. Russia probably lost up to 20 per cent of fuel production capacity because of the Ukrainian strikes, he added.