Peloni: The consequences for this move to counter US policy will define the US-European relationship going forward.
Sundance | Mar 9, 2025
Consider this an escalation once President Trump is briefed. Overnight, someone, claimed by media to be Ukraine, launched a targeted series of drone attacks against the KINEF oil refinery in the Leningrad region of Russia.
The refinery is approximately 800 to 1,000 kilometers from where western intelligence operators are assembled to support Ukraine. This distance means someone within NATO has violated President Trump’s order to withdraw ‘long-range’ targeting system operation, and/or someone within NATO has provided an alternative. [SEE MAP ABOVE]
When President Trump stopped “intelligence sharing” with Ukraine, what he technically did was stop allowing Ukraine to use exclusive USA targeting systems controlled by U.S Intelligence, the CIA, the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
These terrain mapping systems, the missile and drone targeting systems, are what military forces inside Ukraine need to carry out offensive drone and missile attacks against Russian forces. However, two drones were launched on the night of Saturday March 8th and were shot down as they approached the KINEF refinery, damaging one external oil tank.
Who launched them, and what targeting system was used?
RBC Ukraine – […] At night, unidentified drones attacked an oil refinery in the Leningrad region of Russia. It is claimed that air defense systems shot down two drones, according to the Telegram account of the region’s governor, Alexander Drozdenko.
On the night of March 8, the KINEF oil refinery in Kirishi, Leningrad region of Russia, was attacked by drones.
“The UAV attack on KINEF in the Kirishi district has been repelled. Air defense forces shot down one drone on approach, and the other was destroyed over the plant’s territory,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to the governor, the debris from the downed drone damaged the external structure of one of the tanks. There were no reported casualties.
It is worth noting that the Kinef oil refinery (Kirishinefteorgsintez) is one of the largest in Russia. (more)
VIA REUTERS – MOSCOW (Reuters) – A tank at Russia’s Kirishi refinery, one of the country’s largest, was damaged by falling debris during a Ukrainian drone attack, the governor of the northwestern Leningrad region said on Saturday.
Surgutneftegaz’s Kirishinefteorgsintez (KINEF) refinery is one of the top two refineries in Russia. It refines about 17.7 million tons per year (355,000 barrels per day) of Russian crude, or 6.4% of the total, according to industry sources.
[…] The refinery produces about 2.3 million tons of gasoline – 5.3% of Russia’s total – 7.6% of its diesel fuel, 16.3% of its fuel oil and 3.4% of the country’s aviation fuel, according to industry sources. (more)
The drones were launched from Ukraine?
The KINEF refinery is quite a long distance from the Western Ukraine region under the control of Zelenskyy and NATO allies. Beyond the issue of who controlled the drones, how was the drone targeting system used and who provided it?
Previously, CTH shared the following:
? WATCH FOR THIS – The U.S. is still sharing the targeting information with the U.K and NATO allies. However, if the NATO/EU/UK/CIA use the targeting system it will be very obvious; attacks against ‘Russian territory’ be visible. That’s all the proof needed.
If any long-range missile/drone operations continue, then someone is violating the Trump order. There is no other way to look at it.
At that point, something rather radical is likely to be announced by President Trump that shreds every facet of the U.S. relationship with NATO, the UK and even the Five-Eyes consortium.
Geopolitically, every player mentioned is well aware of this dynamic. Hence, the apoplexy we are witnessing.
It looks like it’s time to increase the Big Ugly impact hammer!
The EU needs to understand what FAFO means in Trump term-2.
These schemes and trouble-stirring operations by the EU will likely continue as the U.S delegation meets with the Ukrainian delegation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next week.
@Laura
Actually, Putin is supportive of Trump’s proposal of a ceasefire, even as Zel continues to sidestep calls for a ceasefire with demands of preconditions.
Again, Russia is supportive of Trump’s ceasefire proposal, which contradicts your claim here.
What you claim to be his statement is taken out of context, no matter what Putin really believes.
This is silly. The Stalinist who is a better capitalist than the West?
I don’t defend Putin, I simply show your claims about him are silly, contradicted by the facts and irrelevant to the American aggression which should concern any nation in the world.
Russia is far less of an ally to Iran and Hamas than the Americans who have aided Iran, funded Hamas, and held Israel in check from defeating either of them, all since and before October 7.
Nazis do hate Russians, and Ukraine has a lot of support for Nazis.
No, Ukraine has many Nazi supporters, or how do you explain the many Nazi monuments, awards, celebrations, etc? Are you suggesting that these are not currently expanding in Ukraine? Even as Zel saluted a Nazi Ukrainian SS volunteer? Even as he refused to comment about the fact that this same SS volunteer received an award in the name of one of Ukraine’s most vile antisemitic leaders who collaborated with the Nazis and supported murdering the Jews?
The belief that Ukraine does not have a Nazi problem is both illegitimate and impossible to hide as is clear from Eduard Dolinsky’s twitter feed:
https://x.com/edolinsky
Is Dolinsky a Russian propagandist? No, he isn’t. Ukraine just has a Nazi problem, but Ukrainian supporters refuse to acknowledge this fact as real or substantive, which is quite unfortunate.
@Madeline
I am unaware of what Trump’s election might have to do with anyone’s position on the topic of Ukraine, so perhaps you will explain why it might.
Also, neither Ted nor I have thrown in with Moscow any more than you or Laura have thrown in with Azov.
The basis of our views have been explained many times, but it revolves around the clarity on the point of America weaponizing Ukraine against Russia. The 2014 coup was not the first coup against Ukraine, but it was successful beyond the dreams of the US, as it split Ukraine along the lines of support for Russia which sparked a civil war. As outrageous as this CIA proxy war was, it was just the latest in a long line of campaigns launched by the US towards returning Russia to the days in which it was caught in the grip of American corruption back in the 90’s with its many assets being pinched for pennies as was about to take place before Putin used his presidential plus powers to block this eventuality with the Yukos trial and the forced conviction of Khodorkovsky.
In any event, Ted has written a great deal on the topic, if you have an interest in reading more on his views, which I fully support:
Ukraine, NATO, and the Most Fateful Error of American Policy
The pot is calling the kettle, black
Don’t poke the bear
Clearly, the US is the aggressor in the Ukraine war
@Madeline
Indeed, it was a long time ago, and yet those who were responsible for the Holocaust in Ukraine are still venerated to this day, from Nazi collaborators to Nazis themselves. There are streets, monuments, mementos, holidays and awards bearing the names of those who helped orchestrate and prepare the slaughter of Ukrainian Jews, as the Jews were actually labeled by the Ukrainian leaders as being enemies of the Ukrainian nation, as Mein Kampf was translated into Ukrainian, by none other than the leader of the Ukrainians, Stephan Bandera, whose name is adorned all across Ukraine, though he is just one such name.
But more incredible than this was the moment that Zel went to Canada and saluted a real live WWII, Waffen SS Ukrainian Nazi, Yaroslav Hunka, something which Zel refused to apologized for having done. What is more is that in Ukraine, Hunka was awarded for his Nazi past with an award named after a Nazi war criminal, Yaroslav Stetsko, who was also a virulent antisemite who endorsed the extermination of the Jews. And as all of this took place, Zel sat quiet in Kiev.
So, while the Holocaust was a long time ago, the veneration in Ukraine for those who partook and supported the Holocaust is very much relevant and visible to this day. This is why they have Swastikas on their uniforms. It is why Zel consorts with the leader of the Nazi movement, Andriy Biletsky, and why he seeks his guidance and advice.
What Putin means by ‘nazis’ is simply anyone anti-Russia. He just throws that term around against Ukrainian nationalists who dare to resist Russian aggression and imperialism against Ukraine. Putin’s definition of ‘nazi’ is not the same as ours.
@Peloni. Kudos to Laura for confronting you. I want to know too. Why exactly have you and Ted thrown in with Moscow, even before Trump was elected? Especially now, in light of the Feb. 28 betrayal of American values, you need to explain your support of “Krasnov.”
@ Keelie Antisemitism is everywhere. The killings at Babi Yar were a long time ago. Russia is not only anti Jewish (remember the Jews who had so much trouble getting out of it?) but anti everyone who is not it.
So choosing to defend Russia over Ukraine on the basis of a decreased amount of anti semitism makes no sense. There must be some other reason.
Laura, I get the impression that you’re going around in ever-decreasing circles.
One thing that influences my own feelings on Ukraine is the collective behaviour of the Ukrainians during WWII. They were more Nazi than the Nazis. Please check it out. I must add that in this respect over the years the Russians were no pussycats, but the Ukrainians took Jew-hatred to a new level.
The “Nazi” aspect of the current Ukraine has been mentioned by Putin because it is still alive, but this has (to my knowledge) been totally ignored by the “Media”.
So now you’re defending communist China too? I’m no fan of the EU, but I hope the hell China does collapse; it is our enemy waging a “peoples war” on us on multiple fronts. It’s so bizarre where the so-called “conservative” movement is heading.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-158509961
Cut this crap already. Russia started the war and Russia can end the war but doesn’t want to. It’s Russia that wants to continue the war indefinitely until it conquers all of Ukraine and then on to the other former Soviet bloc nations and reconstitute the Russian empire. I know that because Putin has said so. He thinks the collapse of the USSR was the worst catastrophe of the 20th century. He’s a Stalinist. Stop defending him already. Russia is allies with Iran and hamas. I cannot understand why anyone pro-Israel would be supporting Putin.
Good
Trump is trying to broker a peace deal that will end the Ukraine/Russia war and avoid WWIII. The unholy NATO/EU/UK/CIA alliance wants the war to continue indefinitely, with active US participation. Why? Because war is a cash cow for the globalists; war weakens Russia; war weakens the United States; Trump’s DOGE is exposing and severely limiting the globalist cash-flow operations, including its indefensible funding of Hamas terrorists; and the globalists are the ultimate beneficiaries of the weakness of powerful sovereign nations. Why? Because the globalists must weaken the US, Russia, and Israel in order to impose its planetary totalitarian Unistate. The EU is already a globalist enterprise, and the globalists believe they can collapse China economically. Putin is not the existential enemy of America––globalism is.