​Ukraine has developed a network of agents and sympathizers inside Russia working to sabotage Russian targets and has begun supplying them with drones to carry out attacks, they said CNNSeveral people are familiar with American information on the matter, News.ro reports. CNN’s sources say that the Ukrainians could have handed them over to undercover agents through smuggling routes, especially since “cash works wonders.”

U.S. officials believe these pro-Ukraine operatives in Russia carried out the drone attack on the Kremlin in early May, launching the drones from Russian territory instead of delivering them from Ukraine to Moscow.

It is unclear whether other drone strikes in recent days — including one on a residential neighborhood outside Moscow and another on oil refineries in southern Russia — were also carried out from Russian territory or were directed by this network of pro-Ukrainian agents.

But US officials believe that Ukraine has created subversive cells inside Russia, consisting of pro-Ukrainian sympathizers and agents well trained in this type of warfare.

Smuggling routes to deliver drones behind enemy lines

It is believed that Ukraine supplied them with Ukrainian-made drones. Two US officials told CNN there was no evidence any strikes were carried out by US-supplied drones.

Officials could not say for certain how Ukraine was able to get the drones behind enemy lines, but two of the sources told CNN that there are well-established smuggling routes that could be used to send the drones or components to Russia, where they can then be assembled. .

A European intelligence official noted that the Russian-Ukrainian border is large and very difficult to control, making it suitable for smuggling — something the official said the Ukrainians have already been doing for most of the decade they’ve been fighting with pro-Russian forces.

“It is also necessary to take into account that this is a peripheral territory of Russia,” the official said.

“Survival is everyone’s problem, so cash works wonders,” he added.

It is possible to involve the Ukrainian intelligence community

According to CNN sources, it is also unclear who exactly controls these assets, although US officials believe that elements of Ukrainian intelligence are involved.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has set the general parameters of what his security and intelligence services are allowed to do, two sources said, but not every operation requires his signature.

Responding to a request for comment, a spokesman for the head of the Security Service of Ukraine suggested to CNN that the mysterious explosions and drone attacks in Russia will continue.

“We will comment on trivial matters only after our victory,” he said. Quoting SBU head Vasyl Malyuk, the spokesman added that “cotton was burning, burning and will burn.”

“Cotton” is a slang word used by Ukrainians to refer to explosions that usually occur in Russia or in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. Its origins go back to the first weeks of the war: the Russian word for “explosion” is very similar to the Ukrainian word for “cotton”, explains CNN.

The culmination of months of effort

Russia’s interior has seen a steady rate of fires and mysterious explosions in the past year, targeting oil and fuel depots, railways, military posts, warehouses and pipelines.

But officials have seen an increase in such attacks on Russian territory in recent weeks, starting with the attack on the Kremlin building. It appears to be the “culmination of months of effort” by the Ukrainians to create the infrastructure for such sabotage, said one of the sources familiar with the information.

“For months, there has been fairly consistent pressure from some people in Ukraine to be more aggressive,” the man said on condition of anonymity. “And there was certainly some desire at the highest level. Challenge has always been one of their skills,” a CNN source commented.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, constantly proposed the boldest plans for operations against Russia and relied on documents that have symbolic value, US representatives told CNN.

Classified Pentagon documents leaked online earlier this year revealed that the CIA urged Budanov to “postpone” attacks on Russia on the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post reported. Budanov agreed to the CIA’s request, but the drones were spotted outside Moscow on February 28, just days after the anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion.

Another US intelligence report, leaked online and obtained by CNN, based on intercepted signals, says that in late February Zelensky “suggested attacking Russian bases in Russia’s Rostov region” with drones because Ukraine has no long-range weapons. get so far It is not clear whether the plan came to fruition, but oil facilities in the Rostov region caught fire after being targeted by suspicious drones several times last year – attacks that Russia is now investigating and deeming “criminal acts by armed groups.” of Ukraine”.

Criticized publicly, cross-border attacks are privately hailed as sound military strategy

“All I’m commenting on is that we killed Russians,” Budanov told Yahoo News last month when asked about the car bomb attack that killed the daughter of Oleksandr Dugin, a prominent Russian nationalist, in the suburb of Myoskovo last year. . American intelligence believes that this operation was authorized by elements of the Ukrainian government. “And we will continue to kill Russians anywhere on earth until the complete victory of Ukraine,” Budanov added.

Publicly, senior US officials have condemned the strikes from inside Russia, warning of the potential for an escalation of war.

But in private conversations with CNN, U.S. and Western officials said they believe the cross-border strikes are a smart military strategy that could divert Russian resources to defend its own territory as Ukraine prepares for a major counteroffensive.

On Tuesday, Britain’s foreign secretary told reporters that Ukraine has “the right to project its force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project its own force into Ukraine. Legitimate military objectives beyond its borders are internationally recognized as part of a nation’s independence.” We have to recognize that,” said Ben Wallace.

Attacks from inside Russia, the ability to send messages to the Russian population

For his part, French Vice Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, chief of the operations division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN on Friday that the attacks inside Russia are only “part of the war” and provide an opportunity to send a message to the people of Russia: “There is a war going on , and it may worry you in the future,” Vozhur said about these attacks. “Thus, this is a good way for Ukrainians to send a message not only to Vladimir Putin, but also to the Russian population,” he explained, adding that Ukraine is “not forbidden” to think about it.

In addition, Ukrainian officials have said privately that they plan to continue attacks inside Russia because it is a good distraction tactic that makes Russia worry about its own security at home, according to a U.S. source who has spoken to Ukrainian officials in recent days.

In an updated report on the war, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said that attacks by pro-Ukrainian guerrilla groups and drone strikes in the Belgorod border region had forced Russia to deploy “the full range of military firepower on its own territory.”

“The Russian command is now faced with an acute dilemma: to strengthen the defense in the border areas of Russia or to strengthen its borders in occupied Ukraine,” the British Ministry of Defense notes.

NATO weapons in the hands of Russian rebels

The Belgian authorities intend to demand an explanation from Kyiv regarding the use of Belgian-made weapons by anti-Kremlin militants in the Belgorod region, reports the newspaper Le Soir, which is sent by the Russian Air Force.

According to the Belgian newspaper, this is confirmed by the photos, and The Washington Post reported that this information is also confirmed by American intelligence services.

These will be Belgian-made FN SCAR assault rifles used by members of the Russian Legion of Freedom and the Russian Volunteer Corps, two anti-Putin militias that also include neo-Nazis, LeSoir writes.

Belgorod Oblast, the weakest link on the border as it shares 540 kilometers with Ukraine’s Luhansk, Kharkiv and Sumy Oblasts, has been under constant attacks for the past two weeks, and apparently there was nothing the Kremlin could do to stop it.

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