Russia Allegedly Urged U.S. to Stop Ukraine’s Planned Navy Day Attacks

The Russian Defense Ministry asked the U.S. Department of Defense to persuade Ukraine not to hold operations on Navy Day in Russia.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov had personally called U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the issue.

Sergey Ryabkov added that the phone conversation between the two ministers allegedly had a positive result for Russia and helped avoid an escalation.

As the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister emphasized, “the signal from our military leadership and the Minister of Defense to our American counterpart must have had an impact.”

According to the Russian Federation, Ukrainian special services were preparing an attack in Russia on July 28, when Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Andrey Belousov were addressing a parade in St. Petersburg.

According to Ryabkov, Lloyd Austin was extremely surprised by this news but took it quite seriously.

After that, Washington allegedly contacted Kyiv and asked them not to do what was planned.

This information is also confirmed by the New York Times, which, citing three unnamed U.S. officials, wrote that during a telephone conversation, Belousov told Austin that Moscow had discovered Ukraine’s preparations for a “covert operation” against Russia.

The newspaper noted that it is still unclear whether Ukraine was actually planning the operation reported by Belousov.

According to the Russian diplomat, if the Ukrainian operation had been carried out, it would have led to an “unmanageable conflict” between Russia and the United States.

At the same time, on July 28, on the Day of the Russian Navy, drones of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine successfully attacked various facilities in Russia.

On that day, an oil depot in the Kursk region was hit. The attack drones also reached an oil refinery in the city of Kstovo.