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The
newspaper said the attack appeared to be part of a series of
covert operations that have made officials in the United States
— Ukraine’s biggest supplier of military equipment —
uncomfortable.
The U.S. assessment was based on intercepted Russian and
Ukrainian communications, the paper said.
The United States intercepted Ukrainian conversations in which
officials said they believed their country was responsible for
the attack, and also tapped into Russian communications which
indicated it was not some sort of false-flag operation by
Russia, it added.
"We immediately said that the Kyiv regime was behind this,"
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the
report.
"In the end, it doesn't make much difference which of the units
of the Kyiv regime was behind this. The Kyiv regime was behind
this, we know this, we are aware of it, and we shall proceed
from this as we go forward."
U.S. officials said they do not believe Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy signs off on all covert operation, the paper
said. It is unclear to what extent he is aware of such
operations in advance, the officials were quoted as saying.
Russia accused Ukraine of trying to kill Russian President
Vladimir Putin in the attack. Zelenskiy promptly denied any
Ukrainian involvement.
The Kremlin has also said the United States was behind the drone
attack, a view Washington dismissed as ridiculous.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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