Ukraine wanted to attack Moscow, but the US prevented the attack

“With everything we have,” the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR wanted to attack Moscow. The Washington Post reports this, citing classified documents from the US spy service NSA that have appeared as part of the major information leaks in recent weeks.

As a result, Kyrylo Budanov planned an attack on the center of Russian power on February 24 – the anniversary of the entry of enemy troops into Ukraine. An attack on the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk was also discussed, according to the report, to show the Russians Ukraine’s ability to carry the conflict far into Russian territory.

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It is not entirely clear why the attacks were not carried out. According to the report, a US intervention is likely to blame. The United States secretly monitored the Ukrainians’ plans — and on February 22, two days before the planned attacks, according to a leaked CIA report, the HUR “agreed, at Washington’s request, to carry out the attacks on Moscow set”.

Who exactly is behind ‘Washington’ – whether it concerns an intervention at the highest level – is not clear from the reports.

Ukraine has been trying for some time to bring the war into Russian territory, also to show the Russian people the effects of their government’s war of aggression on their own bodies. The leaked reports now show that the Ukrainian leaders are at least occasionally stopped by the US in their war plans.

The United States fears an escalation of the conflict. According to the Washington Post, some US officials view attacks on Russia itself as “high-risk operations”, especially if weapons supplied by the United States are used. It is feared that this would allow Vladimir Putin to declare the next level of escalation and deploy tactical nuclear weapons, for example.

Despite the partial braking efforts from the US, there have been several explosions in the past on Russian soil. In December last year, for example, the Engels-2 airbase in southern Russia was attacked, hundreds of kilometers from the front. Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but Zelenskyi adviser Michailo Podolyak made several meaningful statements. He wrote on Twitter at the time: