Russia says West backing Ukraine in drone attack

MOSCOW/KYIV — Washington is encouraging Kyiv by publicly ignoring the drone attack that struck several districts of Moscow on Tuesday, Russia's envoy to the United States said on Wednesday, after President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the strikes.

The White House said it did not support attacks inside of Russia and that it was still gathering information on the incident, which Putin called an attempt to scare and provoke Moscow.

"What are these attempts to hide behind the phrase that they are 'gathering information'?" Anatoly Antonov, the ambassador, said in remarks published on the Telegram messaging channel. "This is an encouragement for Ukrainian terrorists."

Putin on Tuesday cast the assault, which brought the 15-month conflict in Ukraine to the heart of Russia, as a terrorist act. Ukraine also accuses Russia of terrorism for its bombing of Ukrainian civilians, allegations Moscow denies.

A Ukrainian presidential aide denied Kyiv was directly involved in the drone attack on Moscow, but said Ukraine was enjoying watching the events and forecast more to come.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian shelling killed five people in a village in the Lugansk region, Moscow-installed officials said on Wednesday.

The governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region said a drone was the likely cause of a fire that broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery. The fire was put out and there were no casualties, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. The Afipsky refinery is not far from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, near another refinery that has been attacked several times this month.

Russia has long accused what it calls the "collective West" of staging a proxy war against Moscow by supporting Ukraine with military and financial aid.

US officials said on Tuesday that the US aid military package for Ukraine expected to be announced this week will total up to $300 million and will include additional munitions for drones.

Next week, US President Joe Biden will host British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House for talks on Ukraine, climate issues and other issues. Sunak is slated to visit Washington on June 7-8.

Agencies Via Xinhua