Explosive revelation

Trump has been helping Selenskyj with attacks for months

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Selenskyj(Bild: AFP/AP, Krone KREATIV)

The USA is apparently much more involved in the war in Ukraine than previously known. For months, the United States is said to have supplied Ukraine with secret data for attacks in Russia - with the aim of weakening the Russian infrastructure and economy.

For weeks, there have been repeated reports that Ukraine has attacked Russia's energy infrastructure - successfully. Oil is becoming scarce, for example, and queues are forming at some petrol stations. There is a reason for the Ukrainians' success: the USA is said to be providing Ukraine with very extensive information. This includes precise information about weak points in the Russian infrastructure.

The US has been working closely with Ukraine in all phases of attack planning since the summer, reports the Financial Times. According to the report, the US intelligence service is supporting the leadership in Kiev with route planning, flight altitude, scheduling and decisions on missions. This allows Ukraine's long-range attack drones to evade Russian air defenses. 

Targeted attacks
It is nothing new that the USA provides Ukraine with information so that it can coordinate its attacks in areas occupied by Russia. But there has never been open support for attacks on Russian infrastructure far behind the front line. However, US intelligence is said to have done just that. 

The targets of the attacks were Russian energy facilities, including oil refineries, according to unnamed representatives of Ukraine and the USA. The action goes far beyond the previously known cooperation between the countries - and underlines US President Donald Trump's U-turn in the war over Ukraine.

Trump: Ready to "harm the Russians" 
 The turning point was apparently in July: in a conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in July, Trump is reported to have said that he was ready to "harm the Russians". Officially, however, the US government remained reticent. It was only at the beginning of October that the White House announced that it wanted to provide Ukraine with intelligence information for attacks on Russian infrastructure - although, according to the Financial Times report, they have already been doing so for a long time.

There are even reports of fuel shortages in Russia:

Trump considers supplying Tomahawk
The US Office of the President, Zelenskyi's office and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. Russia, meanwhile, expressed concern on Sunday and also spoke about a possible delivery of long-range US Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine and warned of an escalation of the war - threats included.

"The issue of Tomahawks is a cause for great concern," Russian presidential office spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television. "This is really a dramatic moment, as tensions are escalating on all sides."

Trump had stated that he wanted to know what Ukraine intended to do with the missiles before delivering Tomahawks, as he did not want to escalate the war. Tomahawks have a range of up to 2,500 kilometers. This means that Ukraine could target targets far into the Russian hinterland and even the capital Moscow.

"How should Russia react?"
Peskov went on to say that if Tomahawk missiles were fired at Russia, the Russian leadership would have to take into account that some versions of the missile could carry nuclear warheads. "Imagine this: A long-range missile is launched and flies, and we know that it could be a nuclear missile. What should the Russian Federation think? How should Russia react? Military experts abroad should understand that."