Russia Sees Second Day of Drone Attacks, State Department Responds
Russia Sees Second Day of Drone Attacks, State Department Responds
Leaders from the Baltic States have called on the U.S. and NATO to give Ukraine the green light on these strikes
A Russian oil depot was the target of a drone attack today, which followed similar attacks by Ukrainian forces on airbases, which is evidence that Kyiv wants to take the fight deeper into Russia, and the West - at least signaled - that these attacks were permissible.
The most recent attack was on an oil depot in the Kursk region, 80 miles from the border, according to The New York Times.
Ukraine has not officially confirmed a role in these attacks, but Dmitry Kuleba, Kyiv’s stumbling foreign minister, admitted in a prank call a month ago that Ukrainian forces have attacked targets in Crimea and Belgorod.
Yesterday, Mykhaylo Podolyak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser, tweeted, “If something is launched into [an]other country’s airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to departure point.”
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia “was likely to consider the attacks on Russian bases more than 300 miles from the border with Ukraine as ‘some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine,’” The AP reported.
TRENDPOST: It should be noted that every time Ukraine attacked targets inside Russian territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded with missile strikes targeting the country’s energy infrastructure.
He held a meeting today with his national-security council on how to guarantee “internal security.”
The Wall Street Journal, citing Russian news channels, reported that Russian air defenses repelled an additional Ukrainian drone attack on the Belbek military air base in Crimea.
Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, said the U.S. is not enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders.
“We are not encouraging Ukraine to strike beyond its borders,” he said.
He said the U.S. is doing everything it can to support of Ukraine’s independence, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity.”
The Libertarian Institute released a survey that was conducted late last month and conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that the number of American citizens “who want the White House to pursue a diplomatic path is nearly equal to those who advocate indefinite military aid to Ukraine.”
Global Affairs polling in March found that 80% of GOP-leaning respondents wanted the White House to arm Ukraine. That number declined to 64% in July, and was down to 55% in the latest poll released on Sunday. Democratic Party support has also dropped, though at a slower pace.
Philip Giraldi, the former CIA officer, considered the attacks on Russian airbases and said Zelensky is looking for ways to get the US and NATO directly involved in the conflict.
“This was a clear attempt by Zelensky, in my mind, to escalate the war,” Giraldi told Judge Andrew Napolitano , the host of ‘Judging Freedom’ podcast.
“He tried to do that with the missile that was misdirected, possibly, and wound up in Poland and killed two people. He even pushed it and said NATO has to intervene now. This could be another attempt to, shall we say, promote an escalation on the part of the Russians that could possibly be construed as a danger to Poland, danger to troops in Poland, that sort of thing. This is the game that’s being played,” he said.