US Revealed to Be Coordinating Ukrainian Deep-Strikes, as Trump Flirts With Tomahawks

FT has broken a report that the US has been closely involved in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian energy grid and gas infrastructure in order to “weaken Putin’s economy and bring him to the negotiating table.”

https://archive.ph/uUeKh

American intelligence shared with Kyiv has enabled strikes on important Russian energy assets including oil refineries far beyond the frontline, according to multiple Ukrainian and US officials familiar with the campaign.

The previously unreported support has intensified since midsummer and has been crucial in helping Ukraine carry out attacks that Joe Biden’s White House discouraged. Kyiv’s strikes have driven up energy prices in Russia and prompted Moscow to cut diesel exports and import fuel.

The most crucial part of the article details the specifics about precisely how the US allegedly aids Ukraine in these attacks:

The US intelligence helps Kyiv shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, enabling Ukraine’s long-range, one-way attack drones to evade Russian air defences, said the officials familiar with the matter.

Three people familiar with the operation said Washington was closely involved in all stages of planning. A US official said Ukraine selected the targets for long-range strikes and Washington then provided intelligence on the sites vulnerabilities.

You may have noticed my healthy skepticism at the report—one can never take MSM with their infamous “anonymous high level sources” at face value. There are very strong reasons for why such “intel” would be fabricated, the most obvious being to continuously drive wedges between US and Russia, and stymie the Trump admin’s ongoing rapprochement with Russia.

That being said, there’s also a very good chance it is true, but we must always exercise some due caution and skepticism with anything the hostile press reports, particularly when the cui bono just happens to favor them. For instance, it could very well be the UK doing this with the press simply attributing it to the US, to both deflect from the real show-runners while also driving that wedge.

But one new frontline report shed further light on the West’s involvement in Ukraine which would certainly underscore the above. Though this had no attribution or real source, it’s worth noting as it has the ring of truth—allegedly from a Ukrainian military source:

In short, what was found out from the ground about the Russian strike on October 10, which caused power outages in many places, including Kyiv. The issue turned out to be with the air defense system, strangely enough. They couldn’t fend it off. But there is a very curious detail.

In short, it’s about Patriot and Samp-T\Iris-T, which cover us (cities) and primarily Kyiv, as well as the people in it.

1) The air defense system itself couldn’t handle the swarm of Shaheds because it ran out of ammunition and the reload time is long. When literally dozens are flying, that’s a critical issue. Not to mention the crappy Iskanders, which now fly like who knows what with unpredictable trajectory changes and are basically impossible to shoot down. Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles — well, they were never really shot down anyway, I think that’s not in question; these missiles from the Russians are just crap and crooked, so they don’t hit the target but rather fall short or overshoot.

2) Strangely enough, the human factor. Some of the crews are our respected allies. Since all this works within one system, there is often a language barrier, and the Defenders (the air defense titans) don’t understand each other. And some crews are simply inexperienced and fail the task of shooting down. That’s how it is.

Note the bolded above—the admission that at least “some” of the prestige Western air defense systems are operated by non-Ukrainian-speaking allies.

Combined with the FT report—if true—it gives us another bare-faced look at the conflict being just as Putin described: a veritable NATO war against Russia.

Against this backdrop, we have Trump’s new announcement that he will allegedly consider sending Tomahawks to Ukraine, if Putin doesn’t bend the knee:

This is the first time he’s stated this openly. But once more I remain skeptical because it’s likely Trump is again flourishing for his critics to appear ‘strong’ after a deflated period wherein his ego was damaged by Putin’s so-called ‘defiance’.

It’s also likely an attempt at some kind of grandstanding “message” to Russia, but I still remain very skeptical any Tomahawks will ever be delivered. That being said, we must admit virtually every other prestige system once balked at—like ATACMS, Storm Shadows, F-16s, etc.—were infact eventually delivered to Ukraine. The difference, of course, is that none of these were for the purposes of striking deep into Russia, and to this day have never been used in such a way. The Tomahawks’ only real purpose would be for deep strikes, so for that it’s doubtful—but, alas, anything is possible.

Lukashenko, who’s been a key mediator for the Trump administration, shares my skepticism in dismissing the latest Tomahawk hubbub as a typical Trump negotiations gaming tactic:

Either way, the above items again demonstrate the depth of the West’s involvement in the war, and give further justification for Russia to continue plying its campaign.

It should also be mentioned that Trump may be completely ignorant of the fact that a large contingent of the Russian military, and perhaps even society itself, would be quite content with the delivery of Tomahawk systems to Ukraine. That is because such a “red line”-crossing escalation would pretty much ensure the completion of the SMO’s most maximalist objectives, denying what they may perceive to be the “ever-waffling” Putin the ability to end the conflict early in some kind of West-appeasing ‘gesture of good will’.

Such an escalation would harden and radicalize the Russian military command even more toward achieving all the SMO’s goals, as it would become clearer than ever that the conflict represents an existential battle for Russia, and therefore can only be satisfactorily resolved with the total decisive dissolution of the Ukrainian state as it stands.

It would be a further testimonial to Russians that no point in ceasefires exists as the interbellum period would merely serve as a giant rearming extravaganza for Ukraine, with no further limits on weaponry imposed, even of the strategic variety like these Tomahawks. So, yes, there would likely be many Russians, particularly within the ‘turbo-patriot’ sphere, that would be overjoyed at the delivery of Tomahawk systems. Owing to the Tomahawks’ limited numbers and launch platforms, they would be considered a welcome but palatable risk for the assurance of the SMO’s maximalist completion.

Due to Russia’s accelerating advances and successes in the war, the establishment is forced to continue pushing for a wider-scale conflict with Europe. A Ukrainian intelligence unit commander named Denis Yaroslavsky claimed that British intelligence predicts WWIII with Russia starting in 2028:

The Third World War will begin in 2028 — this is the forecast made by British military analysts in their leading headquarters. All of Eastern Europe will be engulfed in flames. Russia will not stop, — said the intelligence unit commander Yaroslavsky

Of course, they’re doing everything in their power to bring their self-fulfilling prophecy to life.

For instance, recent articles have pushed for more and more Western intervention, just as European allies have admitted to continuously discussing some kind of air intervention campaign to help Ukraine, in one form or another:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/09/30/why-russia-is-testing-nato-now/

One option proposed by a group of senior Western politicians and soldiers is to put an air defence shield up over western Ukraine to shoot down Russian missiles and drones, with the option ultimately to extend that shield – an effective no-fly zone – over Kyiv itself.

Of course, it will all likely come to naught—but the fact that the script-writers are desperately pushing for a clash from behind the scenes is still cause for concern.

Just today a spate of scare-mongering erupted in Estonia over the observation of Russian “little green men” at the border:

“We have detected armed groups engaging in suspicious activities. They are clearly not border guards, and the situation poses a real threat,” said Estonian border guards.

Meanwhile, the previous package of fear-mongering psyops has already long been laundered out and hung out to dry. Now that enough time has passed that the needed effect was achieved and it no longer matters that the hoax is debunked, the truth has slowly begun to dribble out about the supposed Russian “mass-drone” scare over Europe:

The same went for the “shadow fleet” scare, wherein France detained a so-called ‘Russian ship’ which was supposed to have been launching drones at Europe. Even mainstream outlets were fed up with the hollow theater:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-shadow-fleet-tanker-raid-was-pure-theatre/

The news footage was satisfyingly reminiscent of Mission: Impossible. Masked French commandoes swarmed up the side of the rusty oil tanker Boracay, assault rifles drawn, and commenced their search for evidence the vessel had been responsible for launching Russian drones at Danish airports….

Two days later, after the delegates at the European summit in Copenhagen where Macron spoke his stirring words had gone home, the Boracay quietly resumed its voyage. The vessel’s captain was charged with nothing more menacing than disobeying orders to halt by the French Navy. No evidence was found of involvement with the drones that supposedly buzzed Copenhagen airport on September 30th.

This Spectator piece actually brilliantly tackles the issue of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, exposing the entire thing as a sham from multiple directions. Firstly, the author explains that buying or selling Russian oil is not even actually banned, rather there is merely a price cap at $60 per barrel.

Most importantly, he reiterates the golden point:

As for the so-called ‘shadow fleet’, what this nefarious-sounding term actually means is oil tankers that are flagged in low-regulation jurisdictions and not insured in London but instead carry policies underwritten by Russian, Indian or Chinese insurers.

The author rightly concludes:

Commando raids make for great TV. But they’re just a distraction from the real issue, which is that European energy consumers remain among the biggest funders of Putin’s war machine.

Someone explain all this to Ursula:

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As always, this escalatory spiral wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Russia’s continued success on the battlefield. Today there were again major developments here, which is sure to fuel more propaganda and psyops in the coming days.

The second biggest news of the day was that Russian forces were geolocated entering southeastern Rodynske, on the Pokrovsk line:

Analysts believe the momentum here could soon carry them to capture the settlement, which would be the final death knell for all of the Pokrovsk-Mirnograd agglomeration as it would signify the complete cut-off of logistics, like so:

Top Ukrainian analyst Myroshnykov urgently explains the significance of this:

Pokrovsk direction:

The situation here has sharply escalated in recent days! In the settlement of Hryshyne, the enemy is working very intensively, series of FAB bomb strikes have already become a common occurrence.

Yes, the enemy is purposefully knocking out our positions, not allowing us to bring up reserves or restore logistics. In fact, this is an attempt to isolate Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and Rodynske, to cut off connections between them and trap our units in a pocket.

At the same time, the enemy is gradually trying to consolidate in Kozatske and Balahanka, and has also advanced northeast of the spoil tip of mine 5/6. As I said earlier, this allows the enemy to cut the city in half, separating the southern part from the main stronghold!

In Rodynske itself, especially on the eastern streets and a bit to the south, heavy fighting is already ongoing. If the enemy manages to hold there, the situation could sharply deteriorate—all main routes leading into the city will come under direct or crossfire control, which is a step towards operational encirclement!

It seems the enemy has decided to close the ring to cut off the group holding the Pokrovsk line. Judging by the pace of attacks—they are working to exhaust us, methodically, without pauses.

Just north of Pokrovsk-Rodynske, in the Dobropillya “bunny ears” salient, Russian forces recaptured significant territory, widening the trunk of the salient:

And a better view of the south-eastern flank of the Pokrovsk-Mirnograd agglomerate, where it can be seen Russian forces seized new territory to pull the shackles tighter on Mirnograd itself:

On the Konstantinovka line, the news is that a much larger Russian assault is brewing. Russian reserves are reportedly in the wings and awaiting both favorable weather and the further deterioration of Ukrainian lines to potentially launch the classic armored columns.

Rumors today claimed that Druzhkovka is preparing for defense, which implies Ukrainian forces are getting ready to yield territory in this zone in the near future. Druzhkovka is here, in reference to Konstantinovka:

Likewise, the gauleiter of Slavyansk called for residents to evacuate the city:

Vadim Lyakh, the head of the Slavyansk administration, which is subordinate to the Ukrainian authorities, called on residents of the city to evacuate due to the approach of the front line.

“I am addressing the residents of the city today, especially the elderly and families with children: it is time to evacuate,” he said in a video posted by the city administration on the Telegram channel.

But the biggest story of the day by far was the mass advances in Kupyansk. In fact, some channels proclaimed Kupyansk had effectively fallen, though that’s likely premature, though perhaps not by much.

Russian forces appear to have cut Kupyansk off entirely from the eastern bank, capturing up to 70% of the city. Some maps like that of DivGen have it looking like so:

You can see the pocket in the middle is undergoing liquidation, with some sources claiming Ukrainian forces are currently violating orders and desperately abandoning their positions to flee. This pocket should be compacted in the next day or two, presumably.

One report states:

The 105th regiment of the NM DPR reports: In Kupyansk, the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, hoping to save their lives, are fleeing the encirclement in the city center without waiting for orders

Even Deep State, which usually has a lag of days to weeks owing to their strict pro-AFU propaganda policy, has drawn most of Kupyansk in a giant gray zone:

Deep State has become notorious for its ‘cope gray zones’, which usually signify definitive Russian advancement and captures. In short, Kupyansk stands to fall within days and could be the first major city captured in quite some time. The last real city to fall was probably Avdeevka—which had a 32k pre-war population, or so—in early 2024, almost two years ago now. The largest captured since then was perhaps Chasov Yar, at around 12k pre-war population. Kupyansk is closer to Avdeevka’s pre-war population, at somewhere north of 28k.

A new Russian drone video emerged of a strike on a Ukrainian crossing on the Oskol river in Kupyansk:

It’s particularly interesting because we know Russia already controls the only main road bridge between the two shores of Kupyansk:

Now it appears the lower one, shown with the second red circle, is under control too, though that’s a railway bridge. But lower on the Oskol there are likely areas where Ukraine has established these ad hoc crossings, whether with pontoons or some other method. This is likely where the fleeing Ukrainian units are now crossing.

By the way, some reports claim one of the methods behind Russia’s success in Kupyansk is that Russian troops are infiltrating disguised as civilians. In reality, this appears to be primarily a Ukrainian tactic in many sectors, though it’s plausible that both sides could be using it.

As demonstration of this, a new video shows Ukrainian troops in civilian clothing putting down concertina wire on some front, before a Russian drone ruins the party:

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