Expert: ‘Ukraine did not plan any operations in Russia using American weapons. It is impossible’

The day before, The New York Times wrote that Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov called his American counterpart Lloyd Austin two weeks ago to complain about a Ukrainian operation that the Americans did not know about.

The defence ministers of Russia and the United States officially announced the phone call on 12 July. The conversation was initiated by Russia, but no details were known at the time: The media only briefly mentioned this fact.

The NYT described some of the details of the conversation. Citing three anonymous officials, the newspaper writes that the Russian side reported a covert operation against Russia, which Kyiv was allegedly preparing with the permission of the Americans. According to the NYT, Belousov asked Austin whether the Pentagon knew about the operation and that it could lead to an escalation of tensions between Moscow and Washington.

It is not known what the Ukrainian side's plan was. But the newspaper says that Pentagon officials knew nothing about it. All of the NYT's anonymous sources confirmed that Belousov's words were taken very seriously.

‘The Americans contacted the Ukrainians and basically said: if you're thinking about doing something like this, don't do it,’ the American newspaper writes.

According to Oleksandr Musienko, head of the Centre for Military and Legal Studies, one should not rely on the veracity of information coming from the Russian Federation.

‘I think there was no operation and could not even be planned. It is impossible – using Western weapons without informing our partners about it. There were no operations. This is the Russian version, that some information was allegedly planned in order to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of our partners. I completely rule out the possibility that such operations could be prepared without informing our partners. This is impossible in today's environment,’ he stressed.

‘The second point worth noting is that the conversation between Belousov and Austin took place in the following plane: Belousov decided to warn Austin that if the US gives Ukraine permission to hit Russian territory with ATACMS, Russia will attack the Kaniv and Kyiv hydroelectric power stations. This was later announced by (Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria) Zakharova. They (the Russians) said that there would be an escalation, we would attack the Ukrainian energy sector to destroy it completely and cause catastrophic consequences,’ Musienko said.

According to him, the United States apparently took this as an argument and did not understand whether the dam would or would not survive Russian missile strikes. They referred to the fact that the power facilities of the hydroelectric power plant itself would be damaged.

‘The second plane is that Belousov is obviously looking for points of contact with the US and he can be a negotiator, as the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said earlier,’ the expert noted.

He reiterated that the Ukrainian authorities would never have planned such an operation behind the back of the United States.

‘They are presenting only the Russian version. They don't even present the Ukrainian version, which plays into Russia's hands as a way to discredit Ukraine as a reliable partner,’ the expert said.

Background. As a reminder, on 12 July, Ukraine rejected Russia's allegations that Kyiv was allegedly preparing to destroy the dams of the Kyiv hydroelectric power station and the Kaniv reservoir as part of another provocation against Russia. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called such statements by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova absurd.