Posted on 10/12/2025 9:43:30 AM PDT by Navy Patriot
The U.S. has been helping Ukraine mount long-range strikes 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.
U.S. intelligence has helped Kyiv strike important Russian energy assets, including oil refineries, far beyond the front line, the newspaper said, citing unnamed Ukrainian and U.S. officials familiar with the campaign.
The White House, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy'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 supplying intelligence to Kyiv in the war Putin launched in February 2022.
"The supply and use of the entire infrastructure of NATO and the United States to collect and transfer intelligence to Ukrainians is obvious," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters then.
The FT said U.S. intelligence helps Kyiv shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, enabling Ukraine's long-range, one-way attack drones to evade Russian air defenses.
The United States is closely involved in all stages of planning, it said, citing three people familiar with the operation. A U.S. official was quoted as saying Ukraine selected the targets for long-range strikes and Washington then provided intelligence on the sites' vulnerabilities.
Early this month two U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington would provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia...
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Rooters Sewer Service seems very pleased.
I’ll reserve my thoughts...sounds like Tokyo Rose
A little farther in, "...citing three people familiar with the operation."
Newsmax is become a pass-through for Thomson/Reuters, in this. No honor to them....
I Agree, that's why I credit "Rooters Sewer Service" in my comment.
Shame on Newsmax.
But it’s now our war on Russia.
DC is conducting strikes inside Russia, and then they are mystified why they cannot make headway in negotiations.
No s***. We’ve been providing Ukraine with information since Day 1.
I don’t get it. Seems to me we should partner with other than Europeans. These people hate us, they are jealous in the extreme, and see us as a market, and a sucker. All allies should be based on what they will do for Freedom and personal Liberties. The UK is a defacto occupied Islamic state.
Trump taking us to war against Russia?
The decline reflects the combined effect of lower global oil prices, falling export volumes, and the sustained impact of Western sanctions on Russia’s energy sector.
Energy revenues — historically the backbone of Russia’s federal budget — have come under increasing pressure in 2025 amid sluggish global demand and restrictions on Russia’s access to key international markets.
The ministry’s figures show that revenues from crude oil and petroleum products declined by nearly a quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, while natural gas export earnings contracted further following continued curbs on pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to Europe.
The sharp revenue drop poses new fiscal challenges for Moscow, which has relied heavily on energy taxes and export duties to finance both domestic spending and defence outlays.
With oil and gas still accounting for close to one-third of total federal budget income, analysts warn the sustained weakness could compel the government to draw further on its sovereign wealth reserves or revise state spending plans heading into 2026.
https://petroleumaustralia.com.au/news_article/russias-oil-and-gas-revenues-declined-sharply/
London: Last Monday, Ukraine launched a major drone attack over 14 regions in Russia, as well as Crimea and around the Black Sea. Targets included a major ammunition plant, a key oil terminal and an important weapons depot. One goal was the Sverdlov ammunition plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of western Russia, which supplies Russian forces attacking Ukraine with aviation and artillery ordnance, aviation bombs, anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons. Throughout this year, Ukrainian drones and missiles have successfully targeted many Russian oil refineries. According to BBC Verify, 21 out of Russia’s 38 large oil refineries have been hit and damaged over the past 12 months, resulting in an economic cost to the Kremlin of up to $10 billion, if you take into account the damage, downtime and lost revenue. Because of the strikes, Russia’s refinery production has dropped by around 10 percent compared to earlier in the year, leading to shortages at the pump as well as sharp increases in price. An alarmed Russian government has taken steps to ban or restrict exports in order to conserve supply for domestic markets.
https://sundayguardianlive.com/editors-choice/invasion-of-ukraine-has-been-a-disaster-for-russias-economy-155665/
Ukraine does not need US intel for what they already know, or Tomahawk cruise missiles for what their own long range weapons have already done.
No it is not, not until US airmen or troops are directly involved. We don't even qualify as a co-belligerent since Ukraine is not attacking Russia from US soil.
Ukraine is developing some long range cruise missiles, but the some Tomahawk variants have twice the range and inertial/terrain map guidance that makes them immune to electronic countermeasures.
Once Russia is penetrated deeply enough and the lose enough petro assets, they will get serious about negotiations. The best doesn’t negotiate unless it feels deep loses and the prospect that defeat.
The bear…
The other side of this is there is a huge difference in means and needs between the US and Ukraine. The US has over three thousand fighters and bombers, F-15s to B-2s. Then the US and allies have over a twelve hundred F-35s. Ukraine has maybe 100 modern combat aircraft. The Tomahawk is a multiservice, multiplatform weapon that fits into US needs. The Flamingo fits into what Ukraine needs.
There is another issue missed in the handwringing over given Ukraine intel or Tomahawks. Russia's own use of drones to target Ukrainian cities is objectively mediocre, and their air defenses are worse.
Russia has far more drones, cruise missiles than Ukraine, and simply is not getting close to the results Ukraine is. Blowing up apartments in the middle of the night is not getting the results as taking refineries down. Despite all the supposedly capable Russian SAMS and AA, Ukrainian drones are getting through and really hurting Russian oil production.
Most of the very long range drones Ukraine is using are re-purposed general aviation aircraft that are easy targets. The fact that they are able to get through at all indicates how thinly Russian AD is spread.
If Ukraine gets any at all, they will be for very specific high-value targets.
🇷🇺 The launch of Tomahawk missiles requires the direct involvement of American specialists, meaning their delivery to Kiev could end very badly, Peskov warned.
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