Russia’s UK ambassador said that Ukraine’s recent drone attacks on airbases for nuclear bombers could escalate the conflict to “World War III” as he suggested that the UK was involved
Ukraine’s drone attacks on airbases for nuclear bombers risk escalating the conflict to “World War III” claims Russia’s ambassador to the UK, who suggested that the UK was involved in the mission.
Andrei Kelin warned that Ukraine’s actions “are bringing the conflict to a different level of escalation”, and said Kyiv should “not try to engulf World War III”. A surprise Ukrainian drone attack that targeted several Russian air bases hosting nuclear-capable strategic bombers was unprecedented in its scope and sophistication and for the first time reached as far as Siberia in a heavy blow to the Russian military.
Mr Kelin pointed the finger at the UK when he said Ukraine must have had assistance in the attacks. “[This] kind of attack involves, of course, provision of very high technology, so-called geospaced data, which only can be done by those who have it in possession. And this is London and Washington,” he told Sky News.
“I don’t believe that America [is involved], that has been denied by President Trump, definitely, but it has not been denied by London. We perfectly know how much London is involved, how deeply British forces are involved in working together with Ukraine.”
Satellite photos show seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at an air base in eastern Siberia, one of the targets Ukraine said it struck on Sunday with drones in one of the most daring covert operations of the war.
Ukraine said over 40 bombers, or about a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, were damaged or destroyed Sunday, although Moscow said only several planes were struck. The aircraft hit were Tu-95s, Tu-22Ms and A-50s in the attacks by swarms of drones that popped out of containers carried on trucks that were parked near four air bases.
The operation was claimed to have been planned over 18 months and it is a heavy blow to Russia’s air force and its military prestige. The bold attack demonstrated Ukraine’s capability to hit high-value targets anywhere in Russia, dealing a humiliating blow to the Kremlin and inflicting significant losses to Moscow’s war machine.
While some Russian military bloggers compared it to another infamous Sunday surprise attack — that of Japan’s strike on the US base at Pearl Harbour in 1941 — others rejected the analogy, arguing the actual damage was far less significant than Ukraine claimed.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him “very strongly” in a phone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields as the deadlock over the war drags on.
Trump said in a social media post that his lengthy call with Putin “was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”