Kupiansk‘s Fate Rests with Assault Infantry, Ukraine Says
KYIV, Ukraine – The future of Kupiansk, a key city in eastern Ukraine, is currently determined by intense fighting involving Ukrainian assault infantry, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army stated Tuesday. The announcement comes amid heightened tensions and ongoing Russian offensives in the region.
Simultaneously occurring, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Ukrainian intelligence services of attempting to recruit pilots to hijack a Russian MiG-31 fighter plane equipped with a hypersonic Kinjal missile. The FSB alleges the plane was to be flown to a NATO military air base in Constanta,Romania,400 kilometers from the Crimean peninsula,and then “dejected” by air defense systems as a provocation. The FSB claims the plot was foiled when a pilot alerted authorities.
A video broadcast by Russian media purportedly shows a pilot claiming to have been offered $3 million by Ukrainian intelligence to ”kill” the plane’s commander and hijack the aircraft in exchange for the sum and citizenship in a Western country.
In response to the alleged plot, the FSB stated Russian forces launched strikes using Kinjal missiles against an electronic intelligence center in Brovary, kyiv region, and an air base in Starokostiantyniv, Khmelnytsky region.
Ukraine’s Center for Combating Disinformation dismissed the FSB’s claims as “typical tactics of Russian intelligence services.” Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Andrei Tarnea labeled the accusations “invented,” comparing them to a “Soviet spy novel” and asserting that “russian aggression and provocations” are the true reality.
