WASHINGTON, May 14. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky plotted ‘behind close doors’ attacks on the Russian territory and an explosion of a pipeline transporting Russian oil to Hungary, The Washington Post reported citing leaked Pentagon documents.
The intelligence papers, which include personal correspondence of the Ukrainian leader and the country’s top brass, reveal that despite Zelensky’s public claims that Western weapons will not be used to attack Russia, he planned to use long-range missiles for striking targets deep in the Russian territory.
At the same time, the paper wrote that in response to its question about the Kiev government’s plans to occupy parts of the Russian territory, Zelensky dismissed such reports as ‘fantasies.’
One document, labeled ‘top secret,’ says that in late January, Zelensky suggested to "conduct strikes in Russia" and to redeploy Ukrainian troops to "occupy unspecified Russian border cities."
During a meeting with Ukrainian top military commander Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the Ukrainian president "expressed concern" that "Ukraine does not have long-range missiles capable of reaching Russian troop deployments in Russia nor anything with which to attack them."
Another secret document reveals that he suggested using drones "to attack unspecified deployment locations in Rostov" in southwestern Russia, the Washington Post said.
In mid-February, Zelensky proposed to blow up the Druzhba oil pipeline during a meeting with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko. Intelligence officials who described the conversation said that Zelensky was "expressing rage toward Hungary and therefore could be making hyperbolic, meaningless threats." According to US intelligence reports, Zelensky said that "Ukraine should just blow up the pipeline and destroy likely Hungarian [Prime Minister] Viktor Orban’s industry, which is based heavily on Russian oil."
Hungary continues to receive a large portion of its oil from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline that runs through the territory of Ukraine. The Russian government earlier said that the pipeline’s southern leg delivered 4.9 million tonnes of oil to Hungary in 2022. It is also used to deliver oil to Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The northern leg of the pipeline that goes to Germany and Poland is out of use at the moment.